Sankara Narayanan
Bridging the gap between Carpooling and Ridesharing
Most of the people commute to office during peak hours, generally ride alone in their car or cab/auto they hire and a number of companies have tried to utilise this space. The fundamental idea is to optimize that empty space without intruding into someone’s comfort zone, which can make a difference. There are “carpooling” companies that has contacts with their commuters, and provide their services and then there are the cab services providing “ridesharing” for their own customers. Again, there’s a huge void in the industry, that can be filled both in the vehicle and in the market.
Usually when people call for lift, it would mean that they’re going to make use of the empty space in our vehicle and travel to their destination. LiftO, also intends the same thing. Instead of furthering flooding the already over-flooded vehicle congestion, they’ve figured out the empty space, and is trying to bridge carpooling and ridesharing services.
The Route Matching Algorithm
LiftO is country’s first premium ridesharing app that will help commuters to share their ride with another professional at any place, any car and anytime. With LiftO, you can share a ride in your own car or in one of the cabs like Ola, Uber, Kaali Peeli taxi or even autos. They have their own proprietary ‘Route Matching Algorithm’ that will assist commuters with the exact location, pick up point, drop point and ride tracking mechanism. Rides would be on real-time basis and would be completely flexible unlike conventional carpooling system where timings and route were fixed on weekly/monthly basis. Using the app is pretty much straightforward. The process of using LiftO for commuting is very similar to the experience of booking a cab using an app.
The Lift Providers
Nikhil Agrawal, an IIT Delhi & IIM Lucknow graduate with exhaustive experience in investment banking takes care of Product & Strategy
Vikesh Agrawal, a BITS Pilani, AIM Manila graduate with ample experience in Media sales and marketing takes care of Marketing & Operations
Nandha S, SRM Engineering College graduate, who has worked extensively on Mobile Application Development, takes care of Technology part along with the team.
It is clearly visible that the team behind LiftO has a rich professional experience, each one with individual expertise in their field have collectively come together backed up by a strong Route Matching Algorithm.
LiftO Launch
Lifto was launched from Powai area in Mumbai on 6th August. The download phase of the App has started from 31st Aug. They have opened one week of download phase so that during the launch of service they have more number of lift giver and lift takers in that area which would form a cluster of masses for successful transaction to take place.
The Ridesharing Ecosystem
The market is so huge, and no one is a threat to anyone in the Indian market, in every sector big payers and small players co-exist. Both are part of the ecosystem and everyone is doing well in their capacity. During peak hours it’s very difficult to get taxi’s/cabs and that’s where Lifto app will help people in getting the rides.
“Reducing one vehicle from the road through our app can make a huge difference if more and more people use it.”
By September 2016, they are aiming to have 6,000 rides per day and once they have covered Mumbai they will be expanding their services to Bangalore, Pune, Delhi/Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Kolkata.
This kind of C2C model works great if number of people using that service is more in the system. In their business model, a good platform and good marketing will incur maximum costs. The right funding can launch LiftO to greater heights.
Web URL: http://lifto.in/
App: Click here.
More reads:
Read about HeyTaxi – Now Your Taxi is on Two-Wheels !
Read about Fillcar – Carpooling Is Now Online !