This tells you everything about how India works. Uber started at the top and climbed down. Rapido started at the bottom and climbed up. They just met in the middle at non-AC cabs a decade after they started.
This is the first time Uber structurally broke its affordability barrier downward in the cab category - literally turning off the AC to hit a lower price point.
This is what I have observed. First-time users seeking cheap rides typically install Rapido first, whereas those seeking premium rides install Uber first. BUT once users have the app, they actually use it across all features. Brand perception affects discovery and first download, but not ongoing behavior.
Why? Because ride-hailing in India is a price-sensitive market with zero switching costs, which is also why there’s a high degree of user overlap among these apps.
So both platforms are now feature-matching to capture more trips from these multi-homing users, not to convert "loyal" customers (who don't really exist).
Uber leads cabs but is a meaningful second player in bike taxis. Same with Rapido - leads in bikes but no longer a small player in cabs despite late entry. This wouldn't be the case if users were locked into one platform by brand perception (which I had suspected earlier).
The median Indian mobility consumer is not income-stratified, but trip-stratified. The same person uses bikes for quick errands & beating peak-hour traffic, autos for mid-distance social visits, and cabs for the airport.
Premium when it matters, practical when it doesn't. The same person who haggles over ₹20 with an auto driver will pay ₹500 for the comfort of an airport cab.
The Indian market requires this range coverage because user needs vary by trip, platform economics demand utilization of existing supply, and only density across all price points creates network effects.