Hours are guesses based on predictive models and can vary from actual clouds on the ridge; reports from people there count for more. If you can't see the landing from take-off, use your better judgement, don't take off.
Safety frequency: 144.500 MHzKeep your radio on it while flying.
Ride Up isn't a rescue service. In an emergency, call first — then let your ride know on WhatsApp.
About Ride Up
Our story
Before every flight at Bir, the same question: who's heading up? Ride Up answers it faster than a WhatsApp group. See who's waiting, join, and share the taxi.
It also helps you plan your next flight and share the long drive to or from Bir.
Free. No ads. No sign-up. Made by flyers, for flyers.
Community guidelines
Same sky, same field. A few simple things:
😊Be kind. Everyone's here for the same sky.
🚕Only start a ride you're really in, and tap "We've driven off" when you go.
🚫No touting or advertising taxis, tandems or anything else.
🔒Never share someone else's number.
🐄Respect the landing ground, the locals and the animals on it. And wave at the cows.
Questions & answers
Why did my ride disappear?A waiting ride closes after 30 minutes in case of no activity in the group to avoid cluttering up the page by forgotten promises. Further, once a cab is marked as "Driven off", it moves to "Left in the last 30 min" at the bottom of the page.
Who can see my WhatsApp number?Only people in the same ride or trip, while "Share my number" is on. On a lift, the driver and whoever joins always see each other's.
Do I need an account?No. Your name is remembered on this device.
How do I change my name?Settings → tap your name, while you're not in a ride.
Can I see wind in knots or temperature in °F?Yes. Settings → your name → Display & units.
Is the weather reliable?It's a model forecast — good for a feel, never a replacement for looking at the sky and asking local pilots.
Someone's driving me up and there's room. Can I offer it?Yes. Tap Start a ride, then "Offer a lift" at the bottom. It starts from the Landing area, leaving now; change the pick-up or time from ⋯ on your card. You and whoever joins swap WhatsApp numbers. It's for sharing a ride, not for running paid rides.
Is it free?Yes, and ad-free. It's built by and for the flying community.
About the maker
Praval Sharda started Ride Up after one too many "anyone going up?" messages at the Bir landing. A pilot first and a coder by necessity, he built it with an AI sidekick and gave it to the community. He'd still rather be in the air than at a desk.
No accounts. No ads. No tracking of you. Your number disappears when your ride's done, and everything else within a week. We only keep anonymous counts of how the app is used.
Privacy
• No sign-up. Your name and number are saved on this device so you don't have to retype them.
• Your WhatsApp number is shared only with people in the same ride or trip, and only if you've added it. "Share my number" is on to start with; turn it off any time in Settings. A lift always shares it with whoever joins.
• Numbers are wiped automatically as soon as the ride is over.
• Everything else — rides, shared rides, names, notes and plans — is deleted automatically after 7 days. While it's live, names and notes are visible to anyone using Ride Up.
• Feedback is kept so the team can read it, and only the team can see it.
• No cookies. The only thing kept on your device is your own name, number and the rides you're part of — "Delete saved data" (Settings → your name) clears it.
• Anonymous usage counts. To see what's useful, the app notes things like "the map was opened" or "a ride was started", with the app's version, and a short note if something breaks. Never your name, number, location or anything that points to you or your device. No cookies. These counts are deleted after six months.
• Want something deleted sooner? Send a note through Settings → Feedback.
Terms of use
• Ride Up helps people find others to share a ride. It isn't a taxi operator: it doesn't book, run or pay for rides, and it isn't responsible for any ride, driver, vehicle or arrangement.
• You choose who you ride with. Use your own judgement.
• A lift in a private car is for sharing a ride, not for running paid rides in a private vehicle.
• The weather and the mood line are a feel from a forecast model — not a flying briefing. Always check conditions on site, with local pilots and the Billing Paragliding Association.
• Ride Up isn't a rescue service. In an emergency, call 112.
• Fake, offensive or advertising posts may be removed. Ride Up is free, offered as it is, and may change or be unavailable at times.
Credits
• Weather and terrain data by Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0).
• Live data by Supabase; hosted on Cloudflare Pages.
• Fonts: Baloo 2 and Poppins (SIL Open Font License), via Google Fonts.
• The paintings of the landing ground (dawn, day, golden hour and night) and the community guidelines picture were made with Google Gemini (the small ✦ mark is Gemini's), art-directed by the Ride Up team from photos taken at the landing.
• Emergency and hospital numbers from the Billing Paragliding Association and the Kangra district website.
• Designed and built together with Claude, an AI assistant by Anthropic, who drew the maps, mixed the paints and counted every cow's footstep.
• Ride Up is an independent community tool and isn't connected to WhatsApp or Meta.
Licences
• Ride Up was originally created by Praval Sharda (2026).
• Ride Up is free and open-source software under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (AGPL-3.0). Anyone may use, study, change and share it. Anyone who runs a changed copy for others must publish its source code under the same licence, so it stays open for the community.
• The credit line above must stay visible in the app in every copy and changed version (AGPL-3.0, section 7(b)). The name "Ride Up" belongs to this community project: changed copies run by others should use their own name.
• Built with: Supabase JS (MIT licence), Leaflet (BSD 2-Clause), Baloo 2 and Poppins fonts (SIL Open Font License). Data licences are listed under Credits.
