Dear Rodinhooders ,
Wanted to share with you about a recent endeavor of mine called AmigoRide,developed along with a friend who is also my partner in the venture. I am no entrepreneur (although I started a firm called Audacious Ventures ) , but I tried to act on my idea and now look forward to your suggestions and support to take this app further.
For the past year or so, I was consumed by an idea born out of my own frustration with daily commuting . Developed the idea into a concept in my mind , then did some research with my partner and we realized that solutions in this category exist but there was a gap between what the users wants and what others are delivering.
I am talking about Ridesharing or dynamic Car pooling here . The concept of carpooling has been around for a long time in an informal way and RideSharing has become possible for the last couple of years on Smartphones. Commuting is one task that every office goer in the world does everywhere , the traffic conditions during peak office hours are equally bad everywhere and it is only getting worse. Plus we all try to emphasize on being environment friendly, saving fuel and reducing carbon emissions. With these factors, one would imagine RideSharing apps to be on every commuter’s Smartphone but that’s’ not so yet !
In my analysis , we either have taxi-hiring apps posing as Ridesharing apps ( Sidecar, Lyft , Uber) or those which connect any to any or only to FB friends.
Along with my partner,I realized we could have a solution that appeals to everyday, regular commuter. So we launched AmigoRide . It is positioned as a free of charge , peer to peer ridesharing solution that uses a 2 ways acceptance process, unique use of multiple social profiles and accurate route matching to bring the vital element of trust into RideSharing.
Some unique features it offers are :
- Log in with both LinkedIn and Facebook profiles to increase the chances of getting more acceptable rides. Accurate ride matching algorithm used at the backend.
- Both parties need to accept each other before the ride is confirmed.
- Points 1 and 2 help to build in the element of trust and comfort into the RideSharing experience.
- Addition of LinkedIn contacts can make the RideSharing experience socially as well as professionally rewarding since it would mean time well spent in the company of people that you would want to know better professionally.
- The system also has the potential to seek traffic updates from users and share it with others who would be travelling on the same route , thus making these alerts very specific and useful.
- CO2 emissions saved and resultant Eco points earned are updated after every confirmed ride.
The app has been launched recently and we are starting with a wave of communications using our social networks. Based on the early adopters feedback and some ideas , we hope to soon launch a version 2 with enhancements ( simplification )and UI improvements. The app should be useful to all Android Smartphone users who are regular commuters and want to improve their travel experience.
So with this brief about AmigoRide ,what I seek from this forum is this :
- Please share any feedback or advise on the concept that you feel could help to make the app more relevant. ( we know the UI definitely needs work )
- Definitely download the AmigoRide app (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amigoride.activities) and share your thoughts on Play Store.
- Visit us at www.amigoride.com or the AmigoRide community page on Facebook and share your feedback
- If you like the concept , feel free to propagate in your social community. A Ridesharing app is only as good as the number of matches available when you are searching for a ride or co-passengers.
Adding a few more details on the advice of Asha :
- The app works on Android Smartphones 2.3 onwards and does not have any city specific customization , so people across the world can use it while commuting.
- The intention of making a Native Android App was to provide the power of instant ridesharing to users with consistent UX.
- We tried to test the app for almost 3-4 months and across various cities like Mumbai, Auckland and Sydney. But no solution is ever perfect and we are eager to get your views .
- Btw , we already know the UI and the flow needs more improvement , we just need specific suggestions on what will improve the interface further.
- It is a free app and we connect peers to peers . So it is different from other solutions like Uber, Sidecar, Lyft which are more of taxi replacement services.
Finally , it is my firm belief that Ridesharing apps should be more popular, considering they satisfy an inherent need of people and it is my hope that AmigoRide turns out to be the RideSharing app of choice for most of the users 🙂
Guys, please download, share your feedback and also spread the word.
asha chaudhry
vinay,
which cities do you operate in?
a fellow rodinhooder raxit sheth of smart mumbaikar – runs something similar – https://www.therodinhoods.com/profile/ShethRaxit
https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/rodinhoods-ridesharing-via-smartmumbaikar
Vinay Inamdar
Hi Asha ,
The app is an Android one and should suit any regular commuter who uses an Android smartphone, anywhere in the world. We tested this in Mumbai , Pune , Auckland and Sydney during our testing phase. Since the concept is about accurate route matching using GPS coordinates of routes and categorizing the resultant matches as per your degree of association with the other person, it should work seamlessly anywhere.
However, this app is useful only if you get resultant matches for rides in your city or local area , hence it will be necessary for us to reach a critical mass of active users in some cities around the world atleast. So to that extent, you would find us focusing on certain cities around the world to start with.
Just went through what Raxit and team have to offer, it is quite well executed. The underlying idea is the same, use Ridesharing to make everyday commuting more economical and environment friendly.
With AmigoRide , we just went a step ahead to address concerns of safety , security and making the ridesharing experience more socially rewarding. Plus its a native Android app.
P.S – Rodinhood already has had a role to play in my app development 🙂 … you had connected me to Rahul Dev who did the software handover legal agreement work for me. So thanks for the support till now and will look forward to similar support and encouragement from this community for future as well .
asha chaudhry
hey that’s awesome vinay!!!
why don’t you add these points to the post itself?!
Darshan Bhambiru
Hi Vinay,
Do also check this post for something similar in the process to start up too 🙂
Can employee establish a LLP while still being employed with an IT …
You can also check a few groups functioning for the same as well : Carpool & Rideshare: Pan India! or its Mumbai Chapter Carpool & Rideshare : Mumbai (& Pune)makes sense
Cheers!!!
Vinay Inamdar
Hi Darshan ,
Thanks for your reply.
Checked out Carpool & Rideshare: Pan India!Carpool & Rideshare: Pan India! ..Seems like a good Facebook community page.
However I strongly feel that RideSharing should be ubiquitous , easy to access and safe to use .. hence we decided on developing Android app that focuses on these aspects. The logic for matching time, routes and contacts is pretty strong and hence makes the process automated.
Why don’t you try it out and share your feedback ?
Anirudh B Balotiaa
Just curious, why did you start with Android and not iOS?
I went through the site, its pretty neat and the logo is specially very cool!
The screenshots on your site is how the UI is on the app? How about having a video of how this thing actually works? Since you mentioned its not city/country specific I am a bit confused as to how this actually works. Also I am on iOS, so no way to actually try it! 🙁
IMO, the problem you are trying to solve definitely exists globally and unfortunately a good, effective, reliable car-pooling system is yet to gain traction.
Thinking aloud on the following –
Good luck Vinay!
Vinay Inamdar
Thanks for the feedback and wishes, Anirudh.
A video is high up on our list of priorities , just ran out time and resources during the execution , hence we put together a slideshow Tutorial . But we will get the video done soon.
As for choosing Android , when we started work on the concept last year , Android had almost a 50% share in smart phones .Since then it increased to 79% as per latest Gartner report . A bulk of it is in emerging markets where traffic conditions and infrastructure issues abound and secure ridesharing solutions would help.
Regarding using the app , if you download on an Android you will observe that you need to login through both FB and LinkedIn profiles once only . After this for every visit , just decide whether you want to Offer or Look for a ride , enter your start , end and other preferences and you have set your request . The system will match with any other requests as they come along and share alerts which you could action out .
So as you can see , the system will match your requests from your start , end and time of the ride . Hence we do not need to make it city specific at the user level.
Hope I was able to address your queries .
Sheth Raxit
Hey Asha,
thanks!
Hi Vinay
this is Raxit from SmartMumbaikar. We are app+ecosystem, If you are in Mumbai, Let’s catch sometime.
my email is : raxit.sheth@smartmumbaikar.com
Raxit
asha chaudhry
how’s amigoride doing, vinay? do update us!!
Vinay Inamdar
Hi Asha ,
Thanks for reaching out and for remembering our small venture!
My update is going to be long since I am condensing almost 24 months of my experience with AmigoRide in this reply.
It’s been almost 2 years since the concept of secure and social peer to peer ridesharing started obsessing me and more than a year since we launched AmigoRide. I believed at that time and still believe that true Ridesharing apps like AmigoRide are necessary to make the daily commute more agreeable and more interesting. It is also in the interests of the environment and the over-strained city infrastructure. Unlike Uber or Lyft or Sidecar which are technology driven transportation companies , peer to peer solutions like RideSharing actually help to reduce vehicles on the road while at the same time helping you derive more value from your commuting by expanding your social networks .
It was my dream to make AmigoRide ubiquitous on all smartphones, since everyone needs to commute regularly and the app could hopefully make the act of RideSharing or dynamic car pooling more social and secure , thus removing the fear factor from the experience.
I must say from an initial assessment point of view that we have failed in giving the right platform for AmigoRide to really have a chance to take off. The major reasons that I would state are :
1) My partner in this venture and I are also employed full time in the IT sector (me in sales and my partner in consultancy). This meant that our day jobs took priority over the app.
2) The time zone difference between us (India and NZ) made things difficult in terms of finalizing next steps , discussing and executing new ideas , promotion etc . Hangouts, messaging apps, emails cannot replace basic white boarding.
3) The fact that we initially relied on third party developers to get the app built did not help matters much. They further outsourced the UI development leading to a total mess of timelines and the end result was not what we wanted. More importantly, since we did not build in house capabilities, we lost the ability to respond with changes or improvements on the fly, which are absolutely vital if the app has to survive.
Having got the app ready after so many impediments, we ran into our biggest hurdle of all; getting any media coverage! We tried in India, in US and in NZ but to no avail. And without any press coverage, publicity or endorsements by social media influencers , any Ride Sharing app will struggle since it needs a critical mass of users in local areas to be really useful to its users.
I have tried reaching out via my own social network , my groups on What’s app , via FB and Linked in Advertisings etc , but it has not generated the desired momentum.
My partner is now doing some critical enhancements himself (both in terms of flow and the UI based o the feedback we received and our own understanding ) and hopefully we will have a better version 2 ready for launch in a couple of months. I will once again look at propagating and promoting the app across social media and hope to get some feedback from industry thought leaders like Alok and from the various budding entrepreneurs at Rodinhood to give an impetus to AmigoRide.
P.S – This experience has taught me to respect entrepreneurs even more than before. I had the cushion of my day job and could not think of leaving it. Hat’s off to all the folks in the Rodinhood community who pursue their dreams with single minded devotion .
Vardhan Koshal
Hi Vinay,
I am Vardhan, cofounder of http://www.ridingo.com.
Looks like we are fighting the same enemy with very similar ammunition 🙂
You have summarized everything very well and I have nothing new to add. The challenges are same and we are just hoping that one of our many experiments might give us the answer. Will definitely share once we have few answers.
Regards,
Vardhan.