07/08/2026
A speculative BKash idea I’d genuinely love to see become real someday:
bKash Rickshaw QR: Solving the “No Change” Problem.
The idea came from a very familiar and ordinary frustration.
These days, I can go through most of my day without carrying cash. But there’s still one moment when I almost always need it: paying a rickshaw fare.
Very often, I don’t have an extra ৳10 or enough small notes. I either end up paying more than the actual fare, waiting for a random passerby to help with change, or buying something I didn’t even need just to break a ৳500 or ৳1000 note.
And from the rickshaw puller’s side, it’s understandable too. Many of them avoid giving change because they need to save small notes for the next passenger, especially early in the morning, before they’ve collected enough smaller cash. This creates a small but constant daily friction: arguments, delays, awkwardness, and sometimes unfair outcomes for both sides.
That made me think:
What if paying a rickshaw fare could simply be - scan, enter the amount, and pay with bKash?
The ex*****on could be simple and visible:
a QR code printed on a t-shirt, or a durable plastic card that works both as an ID and a bKash payment card.
What makes this idea interesting is that it doesn’t need the rickshaw puller to become digitally advanced. The passenger does the scanning. The puller only needs a basic phone to receive an SMS confirmation. In other words, the technology stays with the user who already has it.
Of course, the idea is much easier than the ex*****on.
There are real challenges like digital literacy, trust, fraud prevention,
and most importantly, cash-out cost. For someone earning through small fares throughout the day, even a modest cash-out fee could make digital payments unattractive. So if something like this were ever piloted, I believe it would need a zero- or very low-fee model specifically designed for micro transport payments.
What I do find powerful, though, is how naturally this fits bKash’s original playbook. bKash succeeded by building on behaviour people already trusted. This could follow the same principle -don’t ask the rickshaw puller to adopt new technology. Ask the passenger to use the technology they already have.
This is still just a concept not something I’m claiming is immediately feasible.
But that’s what I find exciting about speculative advertising: sometimes imagining the communication helps reveal a real everyday problem worth solving.
so i was playing with this copy -
ভাংতি নেই হাতে?
বিকাশ আছে সাথে।
Would you like to scan a rickshaw puller’s QR to pay a ৳30 fare?
bKash Limited
