SMS a Car Pool in Mumbai, India

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SMS a Car Pool in Mumbai, India

• Ashok Datar Bina C. Balakrishnan
• Mumbai Environmental Social Network

www.mesn.org
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Regional Setting of Mumbai
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Bombay Island

• A map of Bombay, showing the original 7 islands
  of Bombay and the reclamation up to 1930, which
  made it one large land mass

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Mumbai Metropolitan Region
Island Greater
Rest Of


City
Mumbai MMR Area ( Sq Kms) 70
468 3887 Length of Roads
(Kms) 837 1867
Population ( Million) 3.1
13.2 5.9 No. of Motor Vehicles
409000
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Population growth
(1.92 )
(1.90 )
(1.80 )
(1.80 )
Figures in Millions
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Mumbai Traffic

• Road lengths have increased only marginally since
  the 1950s
• Car ownership has increased by 400 since 1981
• 250 new cars are added to Mumbai roads every
  day
• Mumbai has 1 car for every 1.92 meters of road
  length

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Believe it or not, every day there are 1.5
million empty seats on the road !
Over 70 of cars have only 1 passenger
Koolpool.co.in
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Existing Modal Split of Mumbai Suburban Traffic

• Number of Passengers per day

• Passenger Kms per day

Average Trip length Rail 27 Kms Road 6 Kms
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Existing Railway Network in Mumbai
To Dahanu Road
To Karjat/Khapoli
Virar
To Kasara
Vasai
Kalyan
Borivali
Diva
Andheri
Thane
Vashi
Santacruz
Panvel
Corridor 1 WR Through
Kurla
Corridor 2 WR Local
Bandra
Corridor 3 CR Through
Mahim
Corridor 4 CR Local
Dadar
Corridor 5 Harbour
Wadala Road
Mumbai Central
Non Suburban
5 th line WR
Churchgate
CST
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Volumes at Churchgate Station is equivalent to a
whole city emerging on a small island point5000
persons per 9 car rake, against capacity of 1710
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Suburban Railways Statistics

• 46 of commuter trips performed by Suburban
  trains
• 73 Passenger Kms by Suburban trains
• 2046 train services everyday over 302 route kms.
• 6.3 million passengers carried everyday
• Super dense crush load of 16 persons per Sq.mt
  vs. 8 persons on Tokyo trains

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Railway Stations

• Crowded platforms Overcrowded
  trains

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Road Traffic
Main arterial road also leading to several major
Hospitals
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Indian Obsession with Cellphones

• One of the largest cell phone users in the world
  
• Use SMS to communicate more than talking on the
  phone
• A popular TV show, received 1.4 million sms in 40
  minutes
• Almost every urban citizen uses a cell phone
• Over 7 Million cell phone users in Mumbai
• Cost of each sms is in the range of 2- 4 cents

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Visual 1
Click here

• Visual shows how much congestion is reduced at
  each stage of pooling

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Koolpool Philosophy

• Car pooling has been happening in Mumbai
  informally, but only between known groups of
  people
• User Security is a major constraint in car
  pooling
• City has sprawled northwards, with commuting
  distances upwards of 25 kms
• Commuting times range between 1 to 2.5 hours, one
  way

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Koolpool Basics

• Requires membership of all users (1st 3 months
  free) Annual Membership 7.50
• Initially, in the interests of security,
  membership is open only to employed persons.
• Membership is not constrained to Car Ownership
• Users become Ride Givers or Ride Seekers as per
  their requirement

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Koolpool Basics

• Members are given photo id card a prepaid
  account is created in his name, with an initial
  credit of 1
• These accounts can be recharged using coupons
  available in multiples of 4.5
• Account Recharge coupons available from the same
  vendors of cell phone recharge cards.

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Koolpool Basics

• Koolpool Routes are predefined, and each route
  has a unique route number.
• The Routes are mapped in such a way that small
  routes are made a subset of a larger route to
  facilitate more matching, and so members can
  create their own routes, incorporating the sub
  routes.

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Visual 2
Click here

• Visual shows Ride Givers give a ride to the Ride
  Seekers

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Ride Giver
To Find Ride Seekers
Go to the Send Message option, Type RG to signify
Ride Giver ltSpacegt the Route Number you wish to
travel on
RG R175
Ride Givers ( RG) receives alerts of all Ride
Seekers ( RS )
Sender receives
SMS would contain Login Status ( RG/RS) Member
Id, Start Location ( Area Pincode Poolstop),
Time Matches are found of members logged in 30
minutes prior to request SMS sent
10 ids on R175, RS-AK159, 50A, 800. RS-JK229,
50A, 801. RS-JD555, 50B, 803. RS-RA119, 50A, 815.
for more send Next, to chat CKP ur msg send to
8888
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Ride Seeker
To Find Ride Givers / Ride Seekers
Go to the Send Message option, Type RS to signify
Ride Seeker ltSpacegt the Route Number you wish to
travel on
RS R175
Ride Seekers ( RS) receives alerts of all Ride
Givers (RG) other Ride Seekers ( RS ) Ride
Seekers can team up and share a taxi
Sender receives
SMS would contain Login Status ( RG/RS) Member
Id, Start Location ( Area Pincode Poolstop),
Time Matches are found of members logged in 30
minutes prior to request SMS sent
10 ids on R175, RG-AK159, 50A, 800. RS-JK229,
50A, 801. RG-JD555, 50B, 803. RS-RA119, 50A, 815.
for more send Next, to chat CKP ur msg send to
8888
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Chat Option
For Better Coordination
Go to the Send Message option, Type CKP to
signify Chat ltSpacegt Member id who you wish to
chat ltSpacegt Your Message
CKP AD258 Hi M arun in a white Print shirt at
HPCL Pump On Bandra SV Rd Going to Nariman Pt
Sender receives
Recipient receives
Message delivered to AD258
From BB189 Hi M arun in a white Print shirt at
HPCL Pump On Bandra SV Rd Going to Nariman Pt
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To Confirm Pool
Go to the Send Message option, Type Pool to
signify Confirmation ltSpacegt Member id who you
wish to pool with
Pool AD235
Ride Seeker receives
Ride Giver receives
Ur Carpool is confirmed with AD235 your Route
pts, Prev Bal 1030, Curr Bal 1000
Confirmation recd from BB189 . Your Fuel points
are Prev Bal 1000, Curr Bal 1025
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Other Features Available On The Website

• Web and SMS interface integrated
• Post Messages on your Profile to find a Pool
• Browse Member Profiles to check members on your
  Route
• Online Live Chat with other members to fix a Pool
• Separate Chat Rooms for every Route
• Send a Message/Email/SMS from the website to a
  member who travels on your Route
• Create new Routes

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Redemption of Points

• Ride Givers and Ride Seekers collect points,
  which can be later redeemed for fuel or other
  consumer goods with select retailers.
• Ride Givers will naturally redeem these points
  for free fuel at our partners Hindustan
  Petroleum Corporation Ltds pumps

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Pool Charges

• On Confirming the Pool, 30 points are deducted
  from Ride Seekers balance and 25 points credited
  to the Ride Givers Fuel Point Account
• 1 point 2 cents (USD)
• Both Ride Giver and Ride Seeker get instant
  acknowledgments of all transactions.
• For Rides on Taxi /Auto, payments are made
  directly to the Auto / Taxi driver. The fare is
  shared equally

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Incentives to join Koolpool

• The following incentives are offered to join
• For every 20 rides given, Ride Givers get 10 free
  rides this is to encourage them to leave their
  car behind and utilize these free rides which
  would lapse if not used with a period of 1 month.
  
• This will also get them used to the idea of
  accepting a ride in a vehicle that is not
  theirs!
• For the free rides the new Ride Giver would
  receive his fuel compensation

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Target Membership

• Employees of large Corporates Organizations
• Professionals
• Over 25 Corporates have shown interest to
  sponsor Free membership and rides amongst the 1st
  to confirm was HDFC CHUBB General Insurance Co
  Ltd with 25,000 free memberships and 10,000 free
  rides
• Add on Membership available to Spouse.

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Koolpool Security
Security is ensured thru a 3-stage check

• The system links the membership ID with the
  mobile number
• Member cannot access the service from another
  cell phone number, so fraud access is eliminated
• In the event that the cell phone is lost /
  stolen, when the ride seeker is approached by a
  ride giver, the ID shown on the card must match
  the id sent to the rider seeker

The IDs carry a photo of the member, and in case
the card is stolen, the pictures wont match
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Benefits Expected

• With just 6500 users, in 1 year we can reduce
• Over 50 million kms of travel
• 6500 vehicles ( car taxis) x 1 seats
  ( empty seats ) x 2 trips ( return
  journey ) x 15 kms ( average
  distance ) x 22 days per month x 12 months
  51.48 million kms saved
  
• Save about 5 million liters of fuel
• Reduce 10 of congestion
• Reduce air pollution by 11,800 Tonnes of CO

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Contact details Project - KoolpoolMumbai
Environmental Social NetworkRegistered Office1,
Smruti Building,M.V. Pandloskar Marg,Subhash
Cross Road,Vile Parle (East) Mumbai 400
057Maharashtra INDIA
Tel [phone]Fax [phone]
0070Email info_at_koolpool.co.inURL
www.koolpool.co.in
Associate Partners Mumbais 50 Million Km Ride
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Key contactsJoshua DSouzaChief Executive
Officerjoshua_at_koolpool.co.inJyoti
KalraProject Coordinatorjyoti_at_koolpool.co.in
Associate Partners Mumbais 50 Million Km Ride
Share Challenge