New Delhi: redBus, the world’s largest online bus ticketing platform, announces the launch of rPool, a Carpooling and Bikepooling service on its platform, in Delhi today. This new service allows office goers in the national capital to avail and offer rides in their personal cars and bikes, while commuting between home and their workplace. rPool can be accessed directly from within the redBus mobile app.
rPool has emerged from the need to develop sustainable solutions for the growing demand for intra-city commute, while also emphasising on reduction in vehicular congestion and pollution. All major cities in India, including Delhi, have witnessed a sharp rise in the number of privately owned two and four wheelers, over the last 4-5 years, resulting in severe cramming, impacting the quality of life, environment and the economy. While investments in public infrastructure, including metros and buses are underway, the spurt in economic activity far outpaces their development, calling for a quick, simple and sustainable solution to keep up with the rising demand for daily commute. redBus believes in the concept of ‘shared mobility’, as a sustainable option to tackling this situation, with vehicle pooling being one of the best solutions.
According to the TomTom Traffic Index, residents of Delhi lost over a week’s time, stuck in rush hour traffic in 2019, compared to a little over three days in Las Vegas, despite residents in the American city covering nearly six times as much distance in their vehicles. Delhi had 11.2 million vehicles on its roads in 2018, growing at an average rate of about 7.6% over the five preceding years. And according to a report published by BCG, traffic congestionis estimated to have cost the city about 12% of its GDP, or about $9.6 billion.
About rPool
Integrated into the redBus app, rPool is a sophisticated carpool and bikepool solution for working professionals, enabling them to offer and avail rides, between their homes and offices. It uses advanced technology to connect ride givers and ride takers in the fastest and most convenient manner possible. The matching algorithm ensures that ride givers don’t have to deviate or take any detours from their daily work route and ride takers get to travel the maximum distance of their commute as a part of the shared ride.
Features of rPool:
● Verified Profiles via multiple checks: In order to build a trusted community of ride givers and ride takers, rPool is restricted to working professionals undertaking daily commute. Users are verified through their mobile number and their organization’s corporate email id/govt. approved id.
● Safe, secure and, private: redBus has introduced phone number masking which enables users to connect with each other via the redBus app without revealing their phone numbers to each other thus ensuring privacy. Also, women commuters can choose to book rides with women ride givers only, for enhanced safety.
● Attractive Incentives: Ride givers receive incentives in the form of reward points that can be redeemed at fuel stations and Amazon Pay. Ride takers pay much less than autos/cabs for the same distance.
● User profiles and feedback mechanism: Creation of user profiles based on user reviews, allowing participants the option of choosing the people they wish to travel with, based on their ratings.
● Insurance for all riders: rPool also covers its rides through complementary insurance provided by its insurance partner in case of accident.
Speaking on the occasion, Prakash Sangam, CEO – redBus said, “Being one of the largest facilitators of road transportation in the country, redBus is committed to making a difference in the urban commute space by providing tested and sustainable travel solutions aided by advanced technology.
Carpooling/Bikepooling is a sustainable and eco-friendly solution for the burgeoning traffic problems in Delhi-NCR that will not only help decongest roads, but offer commuters a viable option of travel that saves both fuel and money. We are pleased to announce the launch of rPool Service in Delhi – a concept which has already found resonance in Delhi with the adoption of carpooling during the odd-even days and we intend to make vehicle pooling more broad based and wide spread. We believe rPool will go a long way in bringing about a change in Delhiites’ mindset about shared commute and contribute towards protecting the environment at large.”
With the right implementation and adoption at scale, carpooling can significantly reduce vehicular traffic during peak hours in urban cities. Research suggests that if 4 people share a car for 10 Kilometres, about 4 to 5 litres of fuel could be saved, thus reducing CO2 emissions by 9 to 11 Kgs. With a growing user base for redBus in the north, especially in NCR, the company is poised to scale rPool at pace, positively impacting urban commute in Delhi.
redBus has registered strong growth in the north and west regions over the last one year, with about 37% of its revenues coming from here in Q3. This is largely attributed to promotional campaigns with the company’s brand ambassador, M S Dhoni, redBus is thus a pan-India brand today. Some of the tier 1 and 2 cities that have contributed to the growth in the north are Delhi, Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra and Dehradun. The busiest and high demand route for bus travel in the north, is between Lucknow and Delhi. redBus is associated with 2600+ private bus operators and 23 RTCs across India, catering to about 2 lakh+ people daily. redBus has also launched, ‘On-Time Guarantee’ (OTG) in Delhi, a feature that offers monetary compensation to passengers whose buses fail to depart on time.
