Routematic bets on artificial intelligence to tap corporate commuters

Office-goers no longer have to face surge pricing when travelling even during peak hours in Bengaluru in return for a cost of between Rs 99-Rs 225 for a guaranteed timely service.  

Benguluru-based corporate commute start-up Routemataic is set to transform corporate transport by focussing on individual commuter needs. It has launched B2B services which club together commuters through AI technology. The service aggregates commuters who work in different companies but have  similar travel patterns on the same route and to the same business parks.  
 

Christened COCO Rides, Routematic’s project has tied up with real estate company Brookfield which owns Ecoworld Park. This will facilitate Routematic’s service to Ecoworld Park’s 100 plus tenants (companies) who in turn can provide it to their employees. Routematic has also signed up with Embassy Tech Village where the largest client is Flipkart.

The firms can enable their employees on the COCO Rides app so that they can book seats in advance  and pay on their own to go home or to the airport at predetermined slots at a price ranging from Rs 99 to Rs 225 per seat or to the airport for Rs 999 including the toll. Sriram Kannan, founder & CEO, Routematic, said it was just the beginning as the service has only just been launched in two business parks. He plans to go to 10 campuses very soon, and do a fundraise for big expansion.
 

“The market size is huge. There are 16.7 million employees who work in IT/ITES parks around the country.  75 per cent of the transport requirement is in the day time. We currently provide technology and transportation services to 200 such companies in campuses for their mandated night shift requirements in nine cities where we do 80,000 trips a day,” said Kannan. What COCO Rides is offering, he adds, is an additional service to those who do not travel during the mandated time period.
 

“Our model is simple. We are looking at providing 100 per cent of the transport requirement of a commuter, rather than spreading thin to many commuters which is the ride share taxi model,” he said.

Depending on demand, COCO Rides decides on the mode of transportation – bus, tempo traveller, car or three wheelers.

Unlike other ride-sharing companies, Routematic is using AI technology to manage the transport demands of corporates for night shifts while also ensuring a healthy income for drivers.
 

The AI technology codifies the relationship between comfort and price (whether one should take one commuter or two but on the same route or different routes, increasing the time), guarantees service delivery prediction, looks at demand patterns for each company, and is based on the automated leasing out of car capacity to increase its usage.   
 

It is also different from other ride-sharing services in that Routematic leases out the car run by the driver for 12 hours each day for a month for which he makes an assured  gross of Rs 60,000 a month (net Rs 25,000-Rs 30,000 minus all costs).
 

“On an average, they run the car for eight hours or five trips. Their net income is similar to what they make as gross on cab sharing companies, otherwise they would leave us,“ said Kannan.  
 

He added that his goal was to have fixed costs and variable revenues. Through aggregation, he hoped to have better use of the car.
 

“We break even after three to 3 to 3.5 trips. We rent out the cars to companies like Uber with an assured 12 hours on weekends or supply corporates with the cars for inter-city travel etc to ensure better utilisation,” he said.

How it will work

* Tie up with realty firms owning business parks and offer vehicle seats to employees working  in companies who have leased space during normal office hours
 

* Offer only employees of those firms access to the app to book seats     
 

* Company pools requirements of commuters working in different companies who want to travel on the same route at predestined time
 

* Offer guarantee on timing     
 

* Employees pay per seat with no surge price