Rapido launches on-demand person-to-person delivery service Rapido Box

India's bike taxi app, Rapido, has introduced a new on-demand delivery service where customers can request pick and drop of food, groceries, and medicines from one customer to another. The person to person (P2P) on-demand delivery service is for family and friends who are not able to step out of their homes for essentials or have run out of certain essential items, in times of need.  To start with, the service is available in Bangalore, Kolkata and Hyderabad. The newly launched service will also aim to boost the utilisation and revenue of the captains (riders) on road, amid lockdown.

The base price of the new service will be Rs 35 for 2 kilometres and Rs 15 per kilometre after that. Users will be able to track their orders through an Order Tracking URL which will be shared with them through SMS. This service can be availed post updating the Rapido app. A user needs to login to the account and book the service. Once booked, the amount and captain details appear on the homepage, post which the rider arrives at the pick-up location.

Rapido has more than 15 lakh registered captains present in close to 100 cities. The company has a unique profile of captains who work part-time or at their choice of hours.  "That is the major innovation that we have done in terms of providing employment to underemployed and unemployed people. We do not own or co-own any fleet, the vehicles are owned by captains/drivers. However, during these testing times of Covid-19, for facilitating last mile deliveries of essential orders to customers, we are present across 30 cities with a fleet of about 75K captains at work. With the launch of Rapido Box, we will leverage our already existing fleet of Captains to ensure quick and prompt deliveries. We're also planning to launch this pan India in close to 100 cities where Rapido is operational in future," says Aravind Sanka, Co-Founder, Rapido.

Given the current situation in the country, safety and precautions need to be adhered by the drives as well. For this, "The captains are asked to maintain personal hygiene and sanitise the hands and bike seat before going to deliver essentials. We are also educating our captains on how they can minimise the exposure to the virus by following precautionary measures and good hygiene practices via notifications, emails and our social media channels. They are instructed to use masks, hand gloves and sanitisers before and after the delivery, to maintain hygiene and contribute to the safety of the customers and themselves."

With the idea of doing everything to ensure no family sleeps hungry and to support this cause, Rapido has launched a crowd fundraising campaign, #PeopleForCaptains. With this fundraiser, Rapido aims to raise Rs 2.5 crore. It has already raised close to Rs 35 lakh through the outreach and initiated distribution of the collected funds to around 4,000 families as of now. "We empathise with their situation and to further shield them from financial burdens in case of hospitalisation, we have made a provision of insurance for all our captains. In case any of our Captains are tested positive, we will provide them with a sum of Rs 50,000 for their treatment and Rs 1,000 every day for the period they are quarantined," Sanka said.

Rapido has accelerated its existing Rapido-Delivery services to provide for the delivery of essential goods during the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown. The company has been operating delivery services for B2B clients namely Zomato, Swiggy, Delhivery.com, Myntra, Eat.Fit to name a few for close to two years now. Rapido has partnered with major online companies like Big Bazaar, Big Basket and Spencer's for delivery of essential goods and is additionally supporting the Delhi Government in delivering essential items like milk and food packets, under the DCPC Node, in underprivileged areas across the city. The company has also partnered with Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike's (BBMP) COVID-19 Home Delivery Helpline as a delivery service partner in a move to resolve supply-chain challenges amidst lockdown.

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