Metered-ride hailing app relaunched in Bengaluru, but rides hard to find

Co-founder of the app, Niranjanaradhya N, says that around 11,000 autorickshaws have been onboarded since June 20 and are hoping at least 3,000 of them will go online from next week.

Bengaluru: The Nagara app, which went live in June 2024, was relaunched last month. The app has become a talking point on social media for offering fares according to the meter in Bengaluru.

This interest comes amid a ban on bike taxis, and high auto fares being reported on other ride-hailing apps. 

Metrolife tried the app, which now offers cab rides in addition to auto rides. We checked for auto rides between Church Street and HRBR Layout, and a cab ride between Koramangala and Banaswadi on Monday, but couldn’t find any. On Tuesday too, no auto and cab rides were available between Kalyan Nagar and Devanahalli. Last week, between Tuesday and Thursday, we checked for auto rides in areas like Haralur Main Road, HSR Layout and Vijayanagar, and cab rides from Shivajinagar and Kalyan Nagar. The app prompted non-availability of autos within 1 minute of our search, and within 1-10 minutes for cabs.

Team responds

The team informed Metrolife that the app has gone through “some changes” and it wasn’t functioning since November 2024 due to technical snags.

Co-founder of the app, Niranjanaradhya N, says that around 11,000 autorickshaws have been onboarded since June 20. “We are hoping at least 3,000 of them will go online from next week. We now also have three cab options, including SUV and Prime SUV vehicles. We have 150 cabs in our fleet currently,” he adds. Niranjanaradhya says that rides can be booked via the app and also via a street-hailing option. Explaining the latter, he says, “If you see an auto with the Nagara board on it, you can hail it from the street. One needs to first generate an OTP by texting ‘Hi’ on WhatsApp to 96200 20042, and share it with the driver to start the trip.” Currently, the platform has completed 3,000 rides, of which 1,200 were done via the app.

Rates on app 

Auto rides are available for Rs 30 (base fare) for the first 2 km and Rs 15 per km subsequently. Cabs are available for Rs 100-130 (first 4 km) plus Rs 24-32 per km after that, according to the vehicle chosen.
Waiting charges of Re 1 per minute apply (after five minutes).