In the backdrop of the recent controversy involving taxi service provider Uber related to safety issues of passengers opting for such rides, online carpooling platforms like Tripda.in are looking at expanding in India, however, with caution.
Backed by German start-up incubator Rocket Internet, Tripda was launched in Brazil in April this year, and has entered India around November 2014. The web-based and mobile application based platform looks to connect people who need rides with drivers who have empty car seats on long trips. Having entered markets like Mumbai, Delhi and Pune,Tripda.in is now planning to expand its footprint across other major cities in the country like Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Jaipur among others over the next six months.
Tripda.in's country manager for India, Nitish Bhushan explained that their platform does not provide rides to people, it basically aims to organise the already existing unorganised carpooling industry in the country. "We encourage people to learn about each other through their profiles on social networking sites like Facebook, and are planning to add an option of having the user's corporate or university e-mail ids as a part of their profiles," Bhushan said.
Basically, it is an user's choice as to which co-rider or passenger he or she wants to share the ride with. When asked about how the recent controversy could impact the company's future plans in the country, Bhushan said that "It is an unfortunate reality in India. However, we are also working towards having enough checks and balances to ensure passenger safety. But, our model is completely different, we do not provide the taxi ride ourselves, rather help people to choose their rides."Tripda.in even has an option of 'ladies only' rides.
The firm is already present across 12 countries across the globe, and expects India to be one of the major markets in the coming years. "We have seen very good traction in Brazil, where we already have 50,000 registered users and 20,000 trips have already been made using our platform," Bhushan claimed. He did not wish to share the India numbers as of now, however, claimed that they already have a few thousand users in India.
He feels that while an unorganised car-pooling industry already exists in the country, options like Tripda.in actually help people plan their trips in advance, as well as choose their co-passengers, thus making it a lot safer. After every ride, the user gets rating points, and someone with low ratings would get automatically weeded out of the system.
As of now, Tripda.in comes as a free service, however, once the firm touches a critical mass (Bhushan did not wish to share the figure), it would start charging a subscription fee for using the platform, as well as commission per ride.
There are others like Bangalore based RidingO, which also provide similar services. RidingO is shifting focus towards specific professional segments like IT professionals etc, from the mass segment, and is also eyeing expansion to other cities. RidingO's founder Vardhan Koshal said, "Data like professional e-mail ids, copies of photo identity cards, as well as profile details on social networking sites like LinkedIn etc add an additional sense of security to the platform. We also do not mix the rides for male and female users on our platform." RidingO, which started around a year back in India, already has around 8,500 registered users on the platform.
Globally too, there are similar ventures, like Paris-based BlaBlaCar, which has recently raised $100 million from venture capital firms, Munich-based Carpooling.com, US-based Lyft.com etc. Uber also has a carpooling service called UberPool, which is yet to be launched in India.
