Bengaluru Student's Rapido Stint Highlights Gig Worker Struggles and Low Platform Scores

A Bengaluru-based second-year BBA student's three-month stint as a Rapido captain during his college vacation has highlighted persistent challenges in the city's gig economy, including uncertain earnings, long waiting times, and inadequate platform support.

The student, who shared his experience on Reddit, reported working roughly 8.5 hours a day from 8 am to 4.30 pm. On good days, he earned around Rs 1,200, which included fuel expenses. In addition to bike-taxi rides, he accepted food-delivery orders through Rapido during the afternoon lull, often encountering 20 to 25-minute delays at restaurants. In one incident, an electricity outage at an outlet caused an order dispute where Swiggy and Rapido repeatedly redirected him to one another, taking 45 minutes to resolve after he independently tracked down the customer.

The student noted that delivery workers have little control over cancellations and ratings, with rider ratings sometimes dropping due to customer cancellations. He also pointed out that customer contact information remains hidden until food is picked up, complicating communication during delays.

Labour advocate Avani Chokshi, representing lIDEA and AICCTU, noted that the challenges are far more severe for full-time workers who rely on platforms for their livelihood. Most gig workers cannot earn minimum wages within an eight-hour day and face unregulated working hours without overtime pay. AICCTU has urged that platform workers be legally recognised as employees rather than partners to secure standard labour rights.

The issues align with findings from Fairwork India's 2024 assessment of labour standards across 11 platforms, including Swiggy, Zomato, Ola, Uber, Porter, and Flipkart. The study evaluated platforms out of 10 points across fair pay, conditions, contracts, management, and representation. No platform scored higher than six. Swiggy, Zomato, Bigbasket, and Urban Company scored six points, while Ola, Porter, and Uber received zero.

Fairwork found that only Bigbasket and Urban Company demonstrated policies ensuring local hourly minimum wages after accounting for work costs, while no platform met living wage standards. Four platforms scored zero for mitigating task-specific risks, and no platform secured points for recognising collective worker representation.