You’ve booked totos and e-rickshaws over app cabs, now you shall also get to pay rickshaw drivers directly through your phone’s online wallet.

“We have been accepting online payments through GPay, PhonePe, and other platforms for almost seven months now,” said Tapan Mondal, the leader of the rickshaw union near Tank 4 stand. “Passengers would not part with change and were paying us in big denominations such as Rs 100, Rs 200, or Rs 500. This had become a huge problem for us, and we were forced to make the move online.”

Dilip Seal, one of the rickshaw owners at the stand, said: “Life has become easier after digital payments started. Now, change is not a problem anymore. Also, sometimes the notes are torn on the sides, and customers refuse to accept them. With digital wallets, these issues have been resolved.”

Sanjit Paswan installed GPay on his phone about a year ago and shows the screen to passengers to scan. But his phone sometimes runs out of battery. “Then I ask friends at the stand to accept the payment from the passenger on their phones and pay me in cash,” he said, standing at an auto cum rickshaw stand at the corner of the Aikatan complex in IA Block.

Tech fear

As of now, more than 250 local rickshaw drivers are accepting digital payments around Salt Lake. The ones who are not doing so are wary of the unknown world of digital currency.

“I am almost 50 years old and have no idea how this method works. I want to learn more, and maybe then I’ll be confident to use it,” said Subir Das, a rickshaw driver at Baisakhi.

Taposh Mullick, 65, is wary too. “I neither have a smartphone nor do I recharge my phone balance often. I maintain a minimum balance, which I top up every month. I cannot make digital payments without a smartphone, and I think it’s too late for me to learn something like this!”

For most citizens, digital payments are a blessing in disguise. Right from tea stalls to vegetable vendors, everyone is accepting this form of payment. But apart from the 250-odd rickshaws, buses, private or government, are still not willing to make the switch. They still believe cash is the best way to collect fares.

“A lot of customers want to make digital payments, but our union has not agreed to do so yet,” said Subodh Jana, a bus conductor on a Shapoorji-Tollygunge route. “Buses carry a lot of people at any given point in time, so it is difficult tracking everyone’s digital payments, especially during rush hour. Rickshaws carry only a couple of passengers, and the payment is made one at a time.”

saltlake@abp.in