Security and safety are always a concern for shared transport service firms. A Hyderabad-based techie has attempted to address this challenge — his start-up has developed a solution that allows sharing of unused car, auto and two-wheeler seats among peers.
“Share those unused car seats with your colleagues,” Rahul Jacob, founder of the start-up rideIT, told BusinessLine . Jacob co-founded the start-up with Genoveva Galarza, whom he met while working at Infosys.
There are already a number of car-sharing services available. So, what’s new in this?
“This is an exclusive community for working professionals. One can become a member only using their corporate email ids. Women can create their own sharing groups,” he said.
“It saves a lot of time for employees using the same route to office. They can share their unused seats in cars, on bikes and when they travel in autos. They can share costs too,” he said.
A few weeks after the service went live, about 6,600 people had registered with the site, with about 2,500 rides posted. The start-up has generated interest among Hyderabad Software Exporters Association members. The association gave rideIT a top-10 ‘hot start-up’ award this year for its innovative idea.
Two services The start-up has two services to offer, for individuals and for corporates. While the social window is free for individuals (within corporates) to offer and take cab seats, the start-up charges a fee when a corporate wants to use the platform.
“We create exclusive private networks for such clients. We have 45 corporates as our clients. We are in talks with more,” he said.
The list of corporates that has agreed to join the service includes TCS, Infosys, Wipro and Capgemini.
“We do have plans to expand to other major cities in the country. It’s actually easy for us to replicate the model as most of the member firms have facilities in several cities,” he said.