<p>Bike taxi aggregator Rapido has responded to the ‘gaps’ in safety protocols that a Bengaluru woman had raised via <span>Metrolife</span> after she was sexually harassed by one of their platform riders recently.</p>.<p>Both the rider and the bike that arrived were different from what Athira Purushothaman had booked. She was harassed by Kuruvettappa, now arrested, during a ride from Town Hall to Electronics City and even later as he sent her inappropriate messages over WhatsApp.</p>.<p>Edited excerpts of the email responses by a Rapido spokesperson:</p>.<p>We urge users to not contact riders (captains as they are called) through channels outside the platform, or share personal information. The in-app call ‘masking service’ secures all conversations between customers and captains.</p>.<p>If vehicle details don’t match, decline the ride. In-app banner ‘Did the vehicle details match?’ stays live on the app’s main screen till the ride is completed.</p>.<p>If captains use vehicles different from the ones shown to customers, disciplinary action such as suspension and/or termination is taken. (The team did not respond to our additional query on how many such riders they have acted against at the time of going to press.)</p>.<p>If a ride is terminated 500m away from the destination or further, the GPS tracker triggers a response. The woman (Athira) got off 200m before her drop location.</p>.<p>Any route deviation, abnormal halts, and breach of ETA (expected time of arrival) trigger a message, notification, and a call to the user.</p>.<p>Any person onboarding as a captain has to upload an Aadhaar card, driving licence, valid registration certificate, and vehicle and bank account details. These documents are shared with a third-party vendor to run the background verification. (We did not receive a response to our queries on how many applicants fail the verification, and if a police check is part of the vetting).</p>.<p>SOS button gets activated when the ride is accepted. Pressing it alerts our 24/7 emergency response team. (We did not receive a response on how big their on-ground support ).</p>.<p>Users can alert the nearest police station or their contacts by pressing the Emergency Button, a 24/7 in-app support feature.</p>
<p>Bike taxi aggregator Rapido has responded to the ‘gaps’ in safety protocols that a Bengaluru woman had raised via <span>Metrolife</span> after she was sexually harassed by one of their platform riders recently.</p>.<p>Both the rider and the bike that arrived were different from what Athira Purushothaman had booked. She was harassed by Kuruvettappa, now arrested, during a ride from Town Hall to Electronics City and even later as he sent her inappropriate messages over WhatsApp.</p>.<p>Edited excerpts of the email responses by a Rapido spokesperson:</p>.<p>We urge users to not contact riders (captains as they are called) through channels outside the platform, or share personal information. The in-app call ‘masking service’ secures all conversations between customers and captains.</p>.<p>If vehicle details don’t match, decline the ride. In-app banner ‘Did the vehicle details match?’ stays live on the app’s main screen till the ride is completed.</p>.<p>If captains use vehicles different from the ones shown to customers, disciplinary action such as suspension and/or termination is taken. (The team did not respond to our additional query on how many such riders they have acted against at the time of going to press.)</p>.<p>If a ride is terminated 500m away from the destination or further, the GPS tracker triggers a response. The woman (Athira) got off 200m before her drop location.</p>.<p>Any route deviation, abnormal halts, and breach of ETA (expected time of arrival) trigger a message, notification, and a call to the user.</p>.<p>Any person onboarding as a captain has to upload an Aadhaar card, driving licence, valid registration certificate, and vehicle and bank account details. These documents are shared with a third-party vendor to run the background verification. (We did not receive a response to our queries on how many applicants fail the verification, and if a police check is part of the vetting).</p>.<p>SOS button gets activated when the ride is accepted. Pressing it alerts our 24/7 emergency response team. (We did not receive a response on how big their on-ground support ).</p>.<p>Users can alert the nearest police station or their contacts by pressing the Emergency Button, a 24/7 in-app support feature.</p>
