BluSmart shifts gears, introduces surge pricing

BluSmart shifts gears, introduces surge pricing

Gurugram-based all-electric taxi startup BluSmart has announced that it will introduce a new pricing structure, marking out ‘rush hour’ parts of a day, when fares will be slightly higher, and the remaining part of the day, ‘relaxed hour’, when fares will be regular or reduced. This is a significant shift for the company, which has long prided itself on its no-surge pricing policy.

Rush hours will be 8:30 am to 10:30 am and 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm for city rides, 3:30 am to 6:30 am for city-to-airport rides and 9:00 pm to 1:00 am for airport-to-city rides. While ‘rush hour’ will be applicable only on weekdays for city rides, it will be applicable on all days for airport rides.

The company reasoned that during these times, there is often an increased demand for cabs, which can lead to longer trip durations. By slightly adjusting the fares for these hours, BluSmart hopes to incentivise more drivers to be on the road, which will improve service experience for all riders.

“BluSmart has introduced a fixed-pricing structure for different times of the day for our customers. This change is a strategic move to align with industry benchmarks,” said Anirudh Arun, co-founder and CEO, BluSmart, in a statement.

It remains to be seen how the new pricing structure will impact BluSmart’s business and how riders and drivers respond to it. Uber, Ola and Rapido have been following a surge pricing model for a few years now.

Responding to criticism on moving away from its long-standing, no-surge promise, co-founder of BluSmart, Anmol Singh Jaggi, wrote on X: “Surge price is unpredictable, our pricing is just a true and transparent reflection of effort by driver partners during rush hours. Surge is non-transparent & arbitrary, what @BluSmartIndia has done is to make it clear & upfront on what the pricing would be.”

BluSmart is not the only ride-hailing company that is experimenting with new pricing models. Uber India has been testing a new feature called ‘flex’ that allows users to bid on the fare they are willing to pay for a particular ride. The model is being tested in more than 12 tier-2 and tier-3 cities in India, including Aurangabad, Bareilly, Ajmer, Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Dehradun, Gwalior, Indore, Jodhpur and Surat, on auto-rickshaw rides and cabs. It plans to roll out the feature to metro cities soon.

Additionally, Rapido recently forayed into four-wheeler cabs at 0% commissions for drivers. The platform enables this by charging a subscription fee, which it claims is much lower than the 25-30% commissions charged to drivers by Ola, and Uber. BluSmart on the other hand has a fixed income structure for its drivers, apart from the incentives they earn on certain rides.