31/05/2024, 16:26 Uber slashes commission fees in Bangladesh - Rest of World

/ South Asia

SILICON VALLEY IN REST OF WORLD

Uber slashes fees in Bangladesh as

drivers keep taking rides offline
Bangladeshi drivers simply started bypassing Uber and
Pathao apps, and the companies took notice and made
changes.
By ZUHA SIDDIQUI and MOSABBER HOSSAIN

20 NOVEMBER 2023 • DHAKA, BANGLADESH

Bypassing platforms has become so widespread in Bangladesh that

there is local slang for it: khep, which translates to “side hustle” in
Bangla.
Uber and Pathao are now piloting a subscription plan for ride-sharing
drivers, where they are not charged commissions on each ride.
Researchers say khep has allowed drivers to exercise protest without
forgoing income.

Jitu Jisan is a Pathao i bike-taxi driver in Dhaka. But, he said, taking bookings through the
ride-hailing app is always the last resort for him. Typically, he uses the Pathao app only to find
a customer, and once he meets them, he turns off the app, strikes a direct deal, and goes khep.

Khep is a popular colloquial term used for gig drivers bypassing platforms like Pathao and
Uber in Bangladesh. In Bangla, khep translates to “side hustle.” “We’d rather khep than work on
the apps. All the effort is from [the drivers’] end anyway,” Jisan told Rest of World. “The
motorcycles are ours, the bills for petrol are ours, it’s our hard work. Platforms only help by
getting us on the apps, and even for that, they’re charging a commission.”

Over 60% of respondents in an April 2023 survey of 59 commuters in Bangladesh said they
had taken khep riders in 2023, according to a study conducted by a group of researchers
associated with BRAC University in Dhaka. It is estimated that there were 7.5 million rides per
month across the country in 2020, and earlier this year, the research director at Bangladesh
Institute of International and Strategic Studies said that the ride-sharing market is the largest
segment within the country’s gig economy, worth $259 million in 2023 and expected to grow
to $1 billion in the next five to seven years.

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“Drivers resort to khep because commissions are high and companies don’t care.”

Across the country, the phenomenon of khep is so widespread that it is forcing ride-hailing
platforms to tweak their policies to stop the practice.

To address the growing issue of off-platform rides, Uber has introduced a subscription model
for drivers in Bangladesh, where bike-taxi riders can pay an upfront amount to the platform
and avoid paying commission on each ride, an Uber Bangladesh spokesperson told Rest of
World. The subscription is available in one-, three-, and seven-day options. Uber did not share
details about the cost of these subscriptions by the time this story was published.

“We believe that this program will lead to an improved driver and rider experience, which also
accounts for their safety,” the Uber spokesperson said.

Pathao, too, is piloting a subscription, CEO Fahim Ahmed told Rest of World. Under the pilot,
riders can “commit as much of their time as they are willing, at a price point they are able to
afford,” Ahmed said during a WhatsApp conversation. Pathao gives drivers the option to buy
subscriptions for one, seven, 15, or 30 days. These subscriptions cost between 30 taka (27 cents)
and 450 taka ($4), according to the company’s promotional materials.

Similar subscription models have been

rolled out by ride-hailing apps in other
countries. In India, local ride-sharing
platform Namma Yatri introduced a
subscription service in September, in
which drivers either pay 25 rupees (30
cents) for unlimited trips per day or 3.50
rupees (4 cents) per ride. Though Uber
has previously introduced subscriptions
to drivers in Ghana and Finland, in
Bangladesh, the company has
acknowledged khep as its reason for the
subscription rollout in its latest
statement. “Uber expects this will lead to
a significant reduction in drivers asking
Pathao Boss, developed in 2020 and halted due
riders to pay them directly and take the to Covid-19, was piloted in September 2023. It
offers drivers subscription options for one,
trip ‘offline,’” the statement read.
seven, 15 and 30 days, with prices ranging from
30 taka to 450 taka. Pathao CEO
Khep’s growing popularity is a result of
years of discontent among drivers, Belal Ahmed Khan, general secretary of Dhaka Ride-
sharing Drivers Union, told Rest of World. “Drivers resort to khep because commissions are
high and companies don’t care,” Khan said. In Bangladesh, Uber charges up to 25%

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31/05/2024, 16:26 Uber slashes commission fees in Bangladesh - Rest of World

commission, while Pathao charges up to 15%. Local unions have previously demanded that the
commissions be reduced to 12%.

There are two popular ways in which khep works: drivers either request customers to cancel a
booked ride before it starts and pay them directly, or they woo passengers on the streets by
offering the same price as shown on the app, noted Ananya Raihan, a researcher associated
with Fairwork, a labor project by the Oxford Internet Institute and WZB Berlin Social Science
Center.

“They gather in busy thoroughfares in Dhaka and Chittagong and negotiate for their fare by
using the fare stated in the app for the pickup and drop-off location requested by the
customer,” he told Rest of World. “In both cases, the app’s algorithm is being used to negotiate for
a fare.”

“Off-platform rides like khep might be a response to the perceived limitations of traditional
strikes.”

Aditto Baidya Alok, a researcher at BRAC University, told Rest of World that khep has allowed
drivers to exercise protest without forgoing income. Since October 2019, two groups of Uber
drivers — the Dhaka Ride-sharing Drivers Union and the Bangladesh Ride-sharing Drivers
Association — have organized multiple strikes to protest against “irregularities,” including the
high commissions.

“Off-platform rides like khep might be a response to the perceived limitations of traditional
strikes,” Alok said. “By continuing to work while using alternatives like khep, drivers can
protest against unfavorable conditions without completely sacrificing their income.”

Bike-taxi driver Abu Bakr Siddique, who met Rest of World while he was waiting to pick up a
passenger at Dhaka’s Karwan Bazar, said he preferred khep to going on strikes, as the latter has
not been very effective in the past. “[It] was a learning experience for us,” he said. “If we call a
strike, passengers suffer, and we also suffer [because] we don’t earn on that day. So it’s better to
go with khep, and that’s why we no longer strike.”

Commuters have given in to the practice of off-platform rides, due to its sheer prevalence,
which leaves them with fewer options to get a ride through an app. Golam Rabanni, a
commuter based in Dhaka, told Rest of World that riders are seldom available on platforms. “So
now I just hail bike-taxi drivers from busy thoroughfares, and we negotiate a fare using the
app,” he said.

Khep might be a more lucrative option for gig drivers, but it comes with significant risks.
Bypassing the app means the driver and the customer are no longer traceable, and drivers are
left dealing with threats, attacks, or even simple disputes on their own. “In cases where
[drivers] get connected with a [passenger] through a platform and later cancel the ride to avoid

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paying the commission, they risk their ratings and performance measurements in the platform,
which is also connected to their accessibility to an income,” Ainan Tajrian, a researcher
associated with Fairwork, told Rest of World.

Such security risks have driven some drivers to return to platform work. “Without the app, I
don’t know who I am picking up, and I feel unsafe,” Uber driver Mohammed Jashim, who
recently returned to platform work, told Rest of World.

Mohammed Mamun, a Dhaka-based bike-taxi driver formerly associated with Pathao who has
been working off-platform for a year, echoed similar concerns about safety. “I’m afraid about
my security,” he told Rest of World. “Since I don’t use apps, I make sure I pick up people who
[don’t look like criminals]. I also avoid streets where I know there’s high crime.”

Zuha Siddiqui is a former Labor x Tech reporting fellow at Rest of

World based in Karachi, Pakistan.

Mosabber Hossain is an award-winning Bangladeshi journalist.

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