Inside a Ride with Bharat Taxi: India’s Cooperative Cab Experiment Hits the Road

On paper, Bharat Taxi looks like India’s next big mobility disruptor. The government-backed, cooperative ride-hailing platform has clocked explosive early numbers, positioning itself as a homegrown alternative to Uber and Ola. But step away from the statistics and onto the street, and the picture becomes more complicated.

Officially launched on December 2, 2025, the service was described as a soft rollout by the Ministry of Cooperation. Within just 16 days, 1.01 lakh users had signed up. By January 4, registrations had crossed 4 lakhs — a jump of roughly 296% in about two weeks. The app, released on Android in October, has already been downloaded over 5 lakh times. On Apple’s App Store, it holds a strong 4.9 rating and ranks among the top travel apps.

Impressive numbers, certainly. But daily users say the real-world experience still feels like a work in progress.

Booking a Bharat Taxi ride can test one’s patience. Estimated arrival times are often longer than competitors, driver availability is patchy, and the app itself occasionally stumbles. More striking, however, is how many drivers simply haven’t heard much about the platform yet. The cooperative model — inspired by the likes of Amul — remains unfamiliar territory for many.

Unlike Uber and Ola, Bharat Taxi doesn’t have flashy marketing or deep pockets. Awareness campaigns are only just beginning, with banners appearing outside Amul stores and pamphlets circulating in residential colonies.

There’s also confusion online. Multiple apps with similar names exist on app stores, even leading to mistaken identities on social media. The official government-backed Bharat Taxi app is built by Moving Tech Innovations, the company behind the ONDC-supported Namma Yatri platform.

For riders, the experience starts familiarly enough. Armaan, a daily commuter in Delhi-NCR, decided to try the app out of curiosity.

“I booked the cab first, but it got cancelled immediately,” Armaan recalls. “There’s still a lot of waiting time compared to Uber. When I finally got a bike request accepted, the icon on the map didn't move. Then the driver called me and asked me to cancel it. He said he was just 'testing' to see if the app actually worked. It’s annoying, but you realise these guys are learning the ropes of their own business.”

He eventually secured a ride, though not without more hiccups.

“The map projection just stopped in the middle of the trip. I had to close and restart the app to see where we were.”

His driver said Armaan was only his second Bharat Taxi passenger of the day after ten hours online — a stark contrast to the steady stream of bookings from larger platforms. At the same time, competitors were sending drivers zero-commission offers, likely to discourage them from switching.

Though over 1.2 lakh drivers have reportedly onboarded, many remain cautious. One veteran driver said simply, “I haven’t accepted a ride yet. The rates Bharat Taxi is offering right now aren't as good as what I get on a busy morning with Rapido or Uber.”

The challenge is clear: drivers want higher earnings, while riders want lower fares.

Still, Bharat Taxi’s promise is compelling — no surge pricing for passengers and a cooperative structure that gives drivers a say in profits. If the platform can smooth out its tech issues and strike the right economic balance, it could redefine ride-hailing in India.

For now, it remains a hopeful experiment — one still finding its rhythm on the road.