Ride-hailing platform Namma Yatri on Friday announced the launch of a new feature aimed at making daily commutes more efficient and commuter-centric, amid a 16% surge in Bengaluru’s average travel time—now 63 minutes for a 19 km journey over the past year.
Namma Yatri has introduced a new feature called Namma Transit, which unifies Metro services, auto-rickshaws, and cabs into a single, seamless real-time navigation platform.
The feature provides real-time guidance on the nearest metro station to access, the correct platform and gate to use, and the ideal time to switch between different modes of transport. According to the mobility startup, this unified, multimodal platform is currently available to a limited set of users, with a full rollout expected within a week.
Namma Yatri’s founders, Magizhan Selvan and Shan MS, said, “Mobility should feel like magic, not a daily grind. With Namma Transit, we’ve designed every element, from booking to alerts, to make public transport the first choice. This is our contribution to a Bengaluru that moves with speed, efficiency, and trust.”
Shan also told that in the initial phase, the platform will be offering discounts and additional benefits to encourage more users and drivers to adopt the transit feature. “The idea is to make public transport more accessible and attractive, helping people experience its convenience while enjoying extra value,” he said.
With support from the Indian Institute of Science’s (IISc) Centre of Data for Public Good (CDPG), Namma Yatri will soon incorporate live BMTC data into its transit feature.
The ride-hailing platform—backed by Juspay, Blume Ventures, and Google—also unveiled a report titled ‘Made for BLR: Namma Mobility Blueprint 2030.’ Drawing inspiration from global cities like Amsterdam, Singapore, and Tokyo, the report aims to reimagine Bengaluru’s mobility landscape.
It emphasizes the importance of introducing regulations for pooling, sharing, and ride batching models, similar to those implemented in other leading cities. By 2030, the app aims to achieve a 50% reduction in emissions, reduce time lost in traffic from 117 to 57 hours, and increase the use of public transport from 48% to 70% through its recommendations and initiatives.
“It makes absolute economic sense to allow shared auto rickshaws in Bengaluru. We’ve seen the benefits of such models in so many other cities across the country, yet in Karnataka, both shared autos and carpooling remain restricted,” said Tejasvi Surya, BJP MP from Bengaluru, at the feature launch.
“As a country, we have taken to urbanisation very slowly, but the next 10 years are critical. India is urbanising at a rapid pace as more Indians will live in urban areas than in villages,” he added.
