Now Reading: Centre tells ride-hailing apps to drop pre-trip tip prompts
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Centre tells ride-hailing apps to drop pre-trip tip prompts
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has ordered ride-hailing apps to remove all tip-related prompts that appear before a trip is accepted or completed. The directive, issued on August 11, covers…
The Story in Brief
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has ordered ride-hailing apps to remove all tip-related prompts that appear before a trip is accepted or completed. The directive, issued on August 11, covers features such as "Advance Tip", "Choose an Add-on", and messages that suggest tipping may speed up driver acceptance.
The ministry cites Clause 14.15 of the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines, 2025, which allows tipping only after a journey ends. It warns that any interface encouraging payment before ride completion violates consumer protection laws. Aggregators must also pass the entire tip amount to drivers without deductions.
The Indian Opinion
A standard pre-trip tip screen may look harmless, but it embeds a bias: pay more or wait longer. The government had already banned this in its 2025 aggregator guidelines. Apps that still showed such prompts were either careless or counting on weak enforcement. Either way, the consumer lost. The real test is whether companies quietly reintroduce tip nudges through a different interface. Watch for wording like 'priority dispatch' or 'express pickup' that charges extra before a ride is confirmed.
Source: deccanherald.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
