The below concept has been in my head for a while, but got re affirmed when I used Uber and saw how well they used technology.
Working Name :
Hitch A Ride
Reason :
This Idea/thought came to me more as a tool to reduce our Carbon Footprint, it is essential and no step is too small to take.
Function :
To create a platform to put in touch people who own vehicles and those who do not, for car pooling.
How it shall work :
The basic concept shall be that whenever a registered person with a car logs in and makes his vehicle available for a ride, other registered users will get an update, who in turn can request a ride.
Software shall be like Uber, the car owner will feed in his route, interested people shall indicate their desire for a ride, the Car owner shall get the list of requests and confirm the ones he’s fetching. The Software shall be interactive, with GPS and Google Maps. The endeavour shall be to eliminate human contact by speech till pick up.
a.) It shall be a live platform, so anyone getting into their cars can make themselves available.
b.) The effort shall be to retain anonymity between the users. The software can enable that by acting as the intermediary for all communications.
c.) All users will feed in their preferred destinations/routes, so they’ll be only informed of rides that serve their purpose. We don’t want users getting fed up of ‘notifications’.
d.) Apart from being a live platform, it shall obviously cater to the regular concept of carpooling, where a group of people may decide to regularly share a ride. But shall provide all other services, ie. Look for new rides, look for new/other people to join a car pool etc.
USP’s
- It’s a live real time platform.
- Rewards : both, for people giving a ride and as well as taking one ( refer to revenue model).
- Anonymity, as well as some sense of comfort, since all users will be registered with their credit cards.
Challenges :
- Getting people to register !
- Awareness of the site and services.
- General apprehension of people giving a ride to strangers.
- Platform available mostly to only smart phone and credit card users.
Revenue :
- All people availing of a ride shall have a nominal charge,20-30 rupees maybe.
- The ride provider shall earn reward points, that can be redeemable for future rides taken by him, or for other discounts, products or services that we can offer through tie ups.
- The ride taker shall also accumulate ‘reward points’, and shall be able to redeem the same. Could be a ‘fifth ride free’ or discounts etc. Like above.
- Tie ups, through advertisers. Don’t know how this works so will need inputs.
As I’ve never been part of this industry, I may be wrong about the assumptions above as well as have missed out many points that need to be addressed. The above obviously is a broad outline, I have quite a bit of the detailing thought out.
In case this seems worth trying, I can provide my time, some office space ( for upto 4 people), accounts my current staff can manage. I have no clue what an endeavour of this kind shall cost to set up and run, till such a time that the revenues (If ?) take care of expenses. I am open to putting in capital if I get convinced it’s a viable model going forward.
I personally would use the above service if it was available, and that’s why my enthusiasm. Also, it would be great if we managed to get as many cars of the road and saved resources as well as possibly the planet !!
Please poke holes, and also point out the positives I may have missed.
There are some existing websites that provide a platforf for connecting people for car pooling. The concept is simple, but in my case, I intend to use technology to enhance the speed, convenience , cost as well as reach.
Paawan
Amit Shroff
Hi Paawan,
The concept is old since I have heard people trying this earlier, don’t know how successful it is. But I believe before you start any activities you should do a research, carry our some research, use some of these car pool services, checkout their working model and how successful or unsuccessful they are and how?
Additionally, the revenue should be cash for a car owner, since it would help him reduce his monthly bills. Additionally Rs 20/30 in cities like Delhi is too small, you should look at factors like distance etc, since it would matter, you cannot have flat rates for all distances.
Now, imagine you are done and working on cost, the website would cost you approx Rs 3 to 5 Lac, the APP for each platform would again cost you approx 3 to 5 Lac. Marketing cost could be approx 12 to 20 Lac annually, then you would have overhead expenses like customer support team etc etc.
I hope this would help you.
Regards,
Amit
Arpit Desai
Hi Paawan,
I totally agree with Amit’s reply. There are too many people including big players in this business. I would suggest please carry out a very detailed comprehensive market research in order to find a niche that you can address with your idea.
I am not into this so have no idea have successful it has been for other ride sharing businesses. If executed properly, there is scope for success.
A Live interface providing with quick up to date information data should be the key to success.
Good Luck !
Darshan Bhambiru
Though a lot of “Car Pooling” and “Bike Pooling” too are already available from posters here on TRHS and also elsewhere on the Internet if you google around, was intrigued to answer with the reference of the First name reminding of this once again read it to see if that helps get some clarity to understand the basics, other insights in the post and comments there.
Carpools never worked. Never will?
Someone tried doing it, now read the last comment too try connecting to them respectively
AmigoRide- Ridesharing with Friends
Seeking guidance and help for the startup real time carpooling/ridesharing Tripsharing.in
Rodinhoods Ridesharing (carpool,bikepool, auto-rickpool,taxi pool)
Lyft with a twist – 2 Wheeler Taxis
Share your Ride for the Open House on July 19 and win a LETSRIDE TEE!
Even Lord Ram, Laxman hitched Rides with Pawan Sut Hanuman Long back (Mythological History says so) 😀
You can also search and read other posts in the same vertical here using the search on top right with your keywords.
Though in terms of Technology usage, a Group on facebook or Whatsapp should serve to suffice what you are trying to aim though it could be geographically localized too that ways with multiple groups and using twitter handle or make a list of participating members in the various ways possible using twitter facebook or RSS FEEDS with mailing lists to enroll as well, since most have a smartphone nowadays with internet connectivity this should not pose a problem.
If you are looking at starting a NEW company only in the car pooling domain then you have the advantage being a late entrant to learn from the others already head long into it and Observe their functioning and research with specifics to your local area as well to implement as per your understanding too.
Good Luck Paawan!!