Pitch the fare, match your route

A big test lies ahead for the latest ride-sharing application 

There’s a new ride-sharing app in Karachi, probably because we need more parallel services in this unparalleled city.

The metropolis has ever-growing activities within its limits and its residents are always geared up to achieve their goals and prioritise their investments. The latest ride service, if proven to be effective, cheap and sustainable, just might help people fulfil some of their dreams.

Two software engineers in Karachi, Muhammad Salar Khan and Islam, decided to jump on the bandwagon of sustainable mobility. Their latest offering to the urban centre, a ride-sharing app named Carsea was recently launched in the city to ‘revolutionise’ the daily commute.

Bol News reached out to the software developers to learn more about what the latest ride-sharing app has to offer for Karachi’s struggling commuters.

The computer programmers, while revealing details about the ‘uniqueness’ of their mobile app product, shored up hope for Karachi’s strained travellers with more assuredness.

“The idea behind our product is very simple: everyone will now have a system (app) where they can publish their daily routes and mention their per-seat price. This matches the routes of the Carsea driver and potential passenger, making the trip very very short and subsequently cost-effective,” stated Khan.

The car you may get and its details are given just like any other ride-sharing service, except that instead of booking your ride, you are simply booking your seat in the driver’s direction, he added.

“If a commuter looks at it this way, he is not just sharing fuel cost with others in the car, but also having a safe and comfortable ride towards the same destination. We see it as a win-win for the driver and passenger(s).”

In these challenging times when so many people are joining social media groups that maintain carpooling services, and increasingly using ride-hailing services to reach offices, this new app has become a  ray of hope for Karachi’s financially-stricken salaried class. Islam shared his spouse’s ordeal and stated, “The idea first occurred to me after my wife, also a software engineer, complained endlessly about the poor services provided by the ride-sharing giants in the city. She would often tell that some of the captains would immediately cancel the ride for vague reasons, others would simply not respond to any of her calls or text messages while there were times the captains were stuck somewhere and reached very very late to the pickup spot. There was no consistency.”

Islam narrated, “I looked at many social media groups and online marketplaces but no useful service was available. I pondered for a moment that when I have the internet and calling balance, yet I’m struggling to find a decent and effective ride, how many more out there are going through the same? After all, the infrastructure we build and live in touches everybody.”

Now that social media platforms failed to address the route matching issue, Islam claimed, I decided to work on a software that would resolve this particular issue. He elaborated, “The Gulistan-e-Jauhar area has 20 blocks and as many as 10,000 different paths on the software map. Counting the paths two-way, there were a total of 20,000 paths and absolutely no effective service provider, not even people’s instant messaging groups, to match routes for the commuters.”

Our app creates the perfect match of routes, claims Islam. “Carsea is that system.”

He also said that to build the app, his team of programmers held meetings with drivers and riders from other ride-sharing services to take note of their point of view on route matching. “The drivers simply wanted monthly business and daily payments instead of the other way round. A lot of them vented about month-end payments since cash is still king in the country. A preference for banknotes still thrives in Karachi’s working-class who feel satisfied after immediate payment for their daily work.”

When asked about the fares that travellers must pay to avail the new service, the developers of the app claimed that one-way rides, many of which are by air-conditioned cars, can cost the passenger between Rs200-Rs600. “The only driver you are matched with is someone who is already on your route or very close to the passenger’s office or home,” mentioned Khan.

On a question about the response so far on the launched application, Khan revealed that per day downloads were between 700 and 800 while weekly downloads were near 6,000. Another feature that makes the app stand out from other ride-sharing giants was the choice given to drivers when they wanted to work. Khan explained, “With the click of a button, a driver or rider may choose to work on, let’s say, Mondays and rest on Tuesday or travel on their own on a Thursday evening. There’s no need to meet targets or commit to anything. It’s their call.”

Claiming a moral role in resolving the megacity’s traffic woes, the developers of Carsea asserted that the per passenger price is helping the drivers who go out in their private vehicles while the service only charges them Rs10.

Khan highlighted, “To ensure the safety of the passengers, many of whom are women, all security features on mainstream ride-sharing apps were added on the app. We have also categorically rejected 900 applicants who wanted to drive for Carsea due to a lack of relevant documents. The drivers and riders also have to post a selfie as proof of who is coming to pick up the passengers. We are working on including student ID cards and other identification methods alongside CNICs, but for now, we will stick to CNICs as the ground reality of who uses the service and how identification affects app usage and passenger safety still needs to be analysed.

Owais Karim, a finance manager at a private company who also drives for Carsea remarked that the way we go around in the megacity is about to change. “This application has so far proven friendly for both the service provider and the passenger. I have only heard positive responses from people around me.” Karim added that the application has proven economical for drivers. “However, I still feel the service has low ridership levels.” The developers of this service need to do more if Carsea is to sustain itself in a city where people and businesses spend tons of money for comfortable transportation, he further said.

“I think if they campaign with better strategies not adopted by ride-sharing giants, more and more people will learn of a better transport service available on their smartphones. If they succeed, this could change the game for taxis once again in Karachi.”

Hamza Saleem, a culinary arts student who recently used the service, stated that public transportation in the metropolis is terrible and the poor infrastructure has only piled miseries for the citizens. “We need more of such private initiatives to compel others to improve how we move on the city streets.”

People are tired of long waits in almost every service, he stressed. “Karachi has millions of people commuting and we pay a lot for transit and get so less. Post-2015, there have been more travel options for people but the fares are just too high, the rides can be uncomfortable and some of the drivers are ill-mannered and manipulative.” He commented, “I don’t drive on my own and rely a lot on public transport. I am jaded due to how I have to travel every day in this sprawling metropolis, but Carsea seems different to me. I no longer have to wait and waste my energy and time going through Karachi’s narrow streets.”

Bol News reached out to the public relations team of another taxi service for a statement on the addition of a competitor in the ride-sharing field in Karachi, but they did not respond to the request.

What becomes of this new smartphone app is yet to be seen as, always, it’s not an easy road to change people’s habits. While everyone generalises city transportation, it is a very private affair. People go about their business, running after entertainment, attending funerals, visiting a loved one, rushing for medical treatment, or simply escaping the miseries of their situations somewhere to be elsewhere.

To ‘ease’ the lives of all 25 million citizens of Karachi, the metropolis’ administration and its private citizens, including business persons, have time and again offered a plethora of services so that people can reach where they need to be while the service providers make profits. And yet the image of a dystopian urban centre persists. People in Sindh’s capital city continue to suffer from massive traffic jams. In several areas, commuters and passengers end up on routes that don’t provide them with the comfort they initially sought.

Those residing in Karachi echo this narrative again and again, questioning its livability. To avoid the traffic nightmare, people often opt out of events they committed to, cancel private plans and sometimes even refuse to drive because of the mental pressure they face during prolonged traffic congestion. The jams and noise created by the horns can add to a passenger’s stress, fatigue and even rage. People relying on public transport have to continuously bargain for lower fares on rickshaws.

Moreover, the increasing number of ride-sharing applications, frankly, haven’t been able to resolve the megacity’s endless traffic-related problems. How Carsea adds to public relief is yet to be seen.