Startups / Leggo Mobility

An EV fleet that paid its drivers a salary.

First and last mile for Chennai Metro. We owned the electric autos, put drivers on a monthly salary and charged one flat fare.

RoleFounding partner, product head, director

Years2022 to closing

CityChennai

StatusClosed

leggo.co.in · no longer live

100000+Green rides

75000+Passengers served

40Electric autos

75Drivers on salary, at peak

30+ tCO₂ saved

01 · The problem

Riders hated the ride, not the metro.

What commuters said was wrong with ride hailing in India. Leggo was built against each one.

47%Drivers cancelling the ride

32%Surge pricing, unpredictable fares

9%Less availability, long waits

8%Safety and cleanliness

Source: LocalCircles survey, as cited in the Leggo deck

02 · The insight

The metro lost people in the last two kilometres.

A 2 km auto to the station cost ₹100. The 10 km train cost ₹30. So commuters skipped the metro and took one auto all the way.

Before Leggo

2 km₹100 · 15m · 200g
10 km metro₹30 · 15m · 0g
1 km₹60 · 10m · 100g

₹190Fare

40mTime

300gCO₂

13 kmDoor to door

With Leggo

2 km₹40 · 10m · 0g
10 km metro₹30 · 15m · 0g
1 km₹20 · 5m · 0g

₹90Fare

30mTime

0gCO₂

13 kmDoor to door

03 · The model

Same industry. Every default flipped.

A ride hail ~~aggregator~~ facilitator who owns ~~fossil~~ EV assets, supports its drivers with a ~~commission~~ stable income plan and provides rides with ~~frequent~~ no cancellations at a ~~variable~~ fixed charge.

Instantly available

Autos waiting at the Leggo point inside the metro station.

Zero cancellations

Trained, salaried drivers. A ride booked is a ride taken.

Flat fares

₹12 a km at launch. No surge, ever.

100% electric

Retrofit electric autos, zero tailpipe emissions.

04 · The brand

Built to look like a company drivers would be proud to wear.

Identity, uniforms, ID cards, standees, flyers, the kiosk and both apps. Second Thought designed all of it.

Identity, cards and launch standees

A Leggo billboard reading Electrifying your way, with a green auto — Outdoor

05 · The product

Two apps: one for riders, one for drivers.

Riders reached a Leggo point, rode on a digital meter and paid by QR or cash. Drivers' rides were tracked and paid incentives on performance.

Screens from the Leggo rider app: booking map, wallet, fare summary, ride history and CO₂ saved — The Leggo rider app

06 · The rollout

Four metro stations.

Chennai Metro Rail made us its operation partner: assured demand, parking space and charging at every station we ran. The first station was flagged off by a state minister.

41Metro stations in the network
2,55,000+Daily metro footfall
500+Autos CMRL allotted to us
2.5 hrsTo charge a 6.6 kWh battery, for 80 to 90 km

10 Nov 2022AlandurLaunch, flagged off by Minister T. M. Anbarasan
16 Dec 2022St Thomas MountSecond station
31 May 2023NanganallurThird station
9 Jun 2023ThirumangalamFourth station

Launch photos at Alandur, St Thomas Mount, Nanganallur and Thirumangalam metro stations — All four station launches, from the deck

English and Tamil newspaper coverage of the Alandur launch — Press, November 2022

Television crews interviewing the Leggo team at a station launch — The press at a station launch

Officials flagging off Leggo's electric autos — Flag-off

The retrofit auto, in Leggo and CMRL colours

Officials flagging off a balloon-decorated Leggo auto in front of a crowd — Flag-off, St Thomas Mount

Eleven green Leggo autos parked in a row in front of a blue warehouse — The fleet at the depot

Three of the Leggo team at the Leggo launch backdrop beside a garlanded auto — The team at a launch

A Leggo standee inside a metro station: electric auto at ₹12 per km — The standee inside the station

A long row of Leggo autos along a blue warehouse wall — Ready for the next station

07 · The traction

Twice the trips per auto, with zero spent on marketing.

Every auto did 6 trips a day in the first month. By March it was 12, and it held there as the fleet grew from 10 to 36.

58,000+Trips by July 2023
1,74,000+Electric kilometres
₹0Spent on marketing

Trips per auto per day

6Nov10 autos

10Dec10 autos

11Jan20 autos

11Feb23 autos

12Mar23 autos

12Apr23 autos

12May26 autos

12Jun30 autos

12Jul36 autos

When people rode

Trips per hour, 25 autos, April to May 2023. 290 trips a day, 12 per auto. Below the dashed line, we filled the quiet hours with rentals and scheduled rides.

08 · The economics

₹1,040 a day to run one auto.

Most of it was the driver's salary, by design. At ₹20 a km, an auto broke even at 52 billable km a day. In June 2023 we were at 40.

Driver salary ₹800Electricity ₹120Overheads ₹95Parking ₹25

Revenue per auto per day, against ₹1,040 cost

₹80040 kmJun 2023 · actual

₹1,20060 kmSep 2023 · plan

₹1,60080 kmDec 2023 · plan

₹2,000100 kmMar 2024 · plan

Why electric made it work

<₹1A km to run, against ₹4+ on petrol or diesel

₹25A month in maintenance, against ₹1,200 for petrol

3-pinA plain AC socket charges it, so any station can host one

09 · The people

75 households on a fixed income.

One dot for each driver on salary at peak.

A woman driver in Leggo uniform beside her garlanded electric auto — A driver from the women's division

A first for Chennai

An all-women division.

We started the first women-only division of autos in Chennai, driven by women and run on the same monthly salary as everyone else. For many of them it was the first fixed income they had earned.

The Leggo team, drivers in uniform and guests in front of a Leggo auto and backdrop at a metro station — The team and drivers at a station launch

“It's good to be driving as part of company, it puts us in ease of mind as we get monthly pay and incentives for our performance & feel more respected to be Leggo driver union”Driver

“I'm able to go office at just ₹20 where else usually I end up paying ₹60 to ₹80 depending with contestant cancellations and surge pricing, I use Leggo daily as it's instantly available at a flat prices”Passenger

“FMC & LMC has been a big problem affecting our metro footfall. Leggo has been our partner to completely cater to this problem successfully serving to over 5% of our passengers in the stations they operate. We urge Leggo to expand across all stations”Chennai Metro Rail

10 · The flood

Then Chennai went under.

The floods reached the depot. Our autos sat in water up to their roofs, and the company never recovered from it.

Leggo autos submerged in floodwater outside a building, seen from a staircase — The depot, flooded

A row of Leggo autos half underwater in a flooded lot — Autos in the water

11 · The calls

₹6L a month in burn. Five months of runway.

Monthly burn, what we didAt the old burnStart and end points from our accounts. The line between them is simplified.

Got right

StartupTN said pitch investors and forget profitability. Our investors said expand. We kept pitching, but first we fixed the stations we had: eight hours a day on the ground with riders, drivers and station managers. Breakeven in three months.

Got wrong

A heavily funded competitor offered to buy us. I said no, because I believed Leggo could win on its own. It's the biggest mistake I've made.

How it ended

Leggo closed. We lost ₹51L, ₹26L of it my dad's. A psychologist told me not to let it turn into fear. I started Second Thought from zero.

Next case studySecond Thought →2023 · Active