The decades-old auto rickshaw space had a monopoly over urban mobility in India, and then came the Ola and Uber disruption. They offered cars with comfort and air condition over the hot and dusty auto rickshaw. While these companies expanded with an auto rickshaw vertical, the two industries battled it out for years.

Now the rise of an airborne pandemic has seen a decline in the cab business. Suddenly autos seem to be the answer, with their open structures and ventilation. Even bike taxi player Rapido has realised this potential and entered the space.

In present day it has now set up an interesting three way three wheeler race, with each company having their different strengths and intent to dominate the market.

Story originally reported by Pranav Balakrishnan.

Uber, Ola, Rapido—the 3 wheels of India’s post-Covid auto race

https://the-ken.com/story/uber-ola-rapido-the-3-wheels-of-indias-post-covid-auto-race/

Over the last 5 episodes, we tried something different - we decided to do two segments, one narrative that follows a story, and another segment that's an interview or a panel discussion with experts. Our listeners have helped us experiment and shape the voice of the podcast.

But now we’ve decided to discontinue the second segment and continue with just the narrative segment. This will mean shorter episodes, but we may bring back the second segment in some form later.

Hosts

Anushka Chhikara

Olina Banerji

Guests

Aditi Surie of IIHS

Shashank Atreya of Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy

Janane Venkatraman on Chennai autos

Rayna Lele on Mumbai autos

Aleser Murtaza on Bangalore autos

Music and editing by Sameer Rahat from Baqsa Studios.

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