Delhi loves its cars. Will a bus ride app convert its people?

Amit Singh and Deepanshu Malviya of Shuttl

Uber, and its local rival, Ola, aren’t the only tech-transportation companies in India. India’s transportation problems are many – ranging from bad public service to a lack of safety – giving rise to a bunch of startups that operate locally or across the country, trying to solve people’s daily commute woes.

On Friday, bus ride app Shuttl said it had hired the general manager of Uber India to be vice president of its growth strategy. The move points to some aggressive plans for the one-year-old startup.

India’s broken urban infrastructure provides a whole lot of opportunities for startups, even if they are regional players.

A 2012 study showed that New Delhi effectively had half a bus for each 1,000 of the capital’s inhabitants. The region’s population has swelled since then, but the problems remain, compounded by the infamous Delhi rape case and other cases of harassment that have made travel a worry point for all and sundry in the region.

You could use a car (which Delhi residents sure do), but that adds to the already alarming levels of pollution in the city that could have wiped off six hours of Barack Obama’s life, and has driven the government to experiments like this.

It is this gap that Shuttl, a Gurgaon-based bus ride aggregator is trying to solve with the help of technology, data, and feedback.

Back to the bus

Founded by Amit Singh and Deepanshu Malviya, the service lets commuters pick a route and buy a ride ticket via its app.

“It’s not a bigger taxi. We run on fixed routes like a normal bus. The idea is to connect high concentration points to each other,” Amit told Tech In Asia.

Users are registered on the platform and need to link their cards to it, creating a tracking and monitoring system.

“Further to that, the way the booking algorithm works, we have ensured that a lady is never booked such that she will be the last drop,” Amit said.

“Even if she is booking for the last stop, we will make sure there are more people getting off at the same stop with her.”

Rides and challenges

Banking on safety