No more advance tips: Centre tells ride-hailing apps to stop asking before booking
The Centre has ordered ride-hailing platforms to stop prompting passengers to pay tips before or during a trip, saying the practice violates the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines and can mislead consumers.
Tips, it said, must remain voluntary and can be offered only after the ride is completed.
No tip prompts before ride ends
The Road Transport Ministry, in a notification, flagged the practice of ride aggregators displaying options such as “Advance Tip”, “Choose an Add-on” and prompts suggesting that a tip could improve the chances of getting a ride.
The ministry also cited messages such as “A driver may be more likely to accept this trip if you add a tip”, saying such interface features are not permitted.
Under Clause 14.15 of the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines, the tip option can be displayed only after the journey has been completed.
It cannot be made available at the time of booking, before the journey starts or while the passenger is travelling.
‘Tip’ cannot influence ride confirmation
The ministry has made it clear that ride-hailing apps cannot design their interfaces in a way that suggests paying an additional amount could influence the service a passenger receives.
Apps must not display any feature, prompt, message, add-on, payment option or other interface element before completion of the ride that creates an impression that a tip could improve:
- Ride confirmation
- Driver acceptance
- Driver allocation
- Waiting time
- Quality of service
The ministry said such practices are considered “misleading, manipulative” and may violate the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
Consumer protection rules already in place
The Centre's latest direction follows an earlier intervention by the consumer protection authority, which had asked ride-hailing platforms to stop prompting customers for tips before a ride was completed.
Despite that direction, advance-tip prompts have continued to appear across several ride-hailing apps, prompting the Road Transport Ministry to reiterate the rules.
Tips must remain voluntary
The ministry stressed that passengers can still choose to tip drivers, but the decision must be entirely voluntary.
The tip feature should become visible only after the journey is completed, ensuring that passengers do not feel pressured to pay extra in order to secure a ride or receive better service.
The move is aimed at preventing ride-hailing platforms from using app design or payment prompts to influence passengers into making additional payments before they have even completed their journey.
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