Coterie Cabs-A Community based Cab Services Initiatives by IIMBians
It was the last day of the term. Exam furores
ended, and there was this rush and gush to get home. But negotiating the near 2
hour drive from Bannerghatta Road to the Kempegowda International Airport was
another ordeal in itself. Saroj logged onto his Cab aggregator app to find a
startling “Rs.1399” flashing back at him, for the single option. The pool
wasn’t any better either, lingering around Rs.1000. Now, he bit his lip, while
this would mean a savings of nearly 28%, that would mean a downtime of 50%. He
decided to seek the help of his friends w.r.t pre-pooling on group and then
book a cab for the group. It so happened that some of them had made their own
arrangements, not minding the same, while others were in their packing and last
moment stuffs. Finding no satisfactory response, he booked the single cab for a
trip to the airport, scheduled at 2100, with a sulk.
Raj too had sought the help of the app, and decided
that he would not be able to shell out the fare. Being the optimistic guy that
he was, he decided to wait till 1800, as he still had time. However as time
nudged by, he suddenly found that there were no cabs available. As he was not
accustomed to the local bus schedules, he didn’t know what to do. After a 22
minute mental ordeal, he got one but had to cough up about Rs. 1250 for the
pooling option and had to literally rush to the airline counters, who were on
the verge of closing the gates.
Mr. Niche was not cliché. Being the well calculated
gentleman, that he was, he’d booked his cab well in advance and the flight
timings warranted commute in a not so busy environment. He’d even got two of
his best friends to join in with him. However, at the airport he found out that
they’d minimal cash. He’d to exercise his cash and wallets to pay for the
driver. “Not fair”, he thought. He’d lost count of the times he was doing this.
‘If only there was some novel system, wherein they could exercise the use of
his student ID card to split costs beforehand’, he sighed.
Aryan was traveling to Hosur from his campus. He
was about to meet his sister after a long time. Suddenly there was this
stranger, who was his co-traveller on the pool. Drunk, literally sloshed and
unhygienic, he turned up the stereo system. He sighed a bit when he got down at
KR Puram. But then there was this haggle that burst, and things got worse. By
the time, he reached there, he wished he’d never taken the cab. He narrated
this to his sister, who experienced a similar dilemma that she had, months
before when she was returning late from work. She replied that security is
always a gamble over long distance travel, especially as she had to commute
over 70 minutes a day for work. This made him wonder about security in cab
pooling services.
Hardy was a literal social butterfly. He loved to
talk while traveling, for the fun of it. It so happened that when he once
struck a conversation with his wonderful driver, from a cab aggregator, he
couldn’t help thinking of the latter’s woes about having to shed about 30% of
his fee, on every trip to the aggregator.
A glimpse of the above stories are very much
possible and have been evident in Real-life World. Coterie cabs drives towards
fixing more than one of these, if not all. The community feeling of
exclusivity- be it on a campus or at work, is a feeling of paramount pride and
security. From times immemorial, humans have thrived in communities. However
with the World getting smaller, this feeling is getting eroded and bonding and
morals have been thrown away, literally. Given the plethora of issues, it is
time for us to have that “Exclusive feeling of Inclusiveness”, which is
possible only by the Josh that a community offers.
Coterie Cabs aims to offer low cost community based
cab services, with pockets of target communities to be commuted. This will be
through connecting with Cab drivers who are still striving to survive, while
keeping intact its aims of building a community through pooling or even
otherwise, while traveling solo. Flagging off from IIMB, we will be using a
pre-set-up portal where one can upload their predetermined travel schedule,
which will be available to all registered users on the portal. Not only this
eliminate the issues associated with surge pricing, if ready the costs will be
split up or deducted through the use of the Student ID card, from his college/
mess account. Similar measures will be made to maintain an account in upcoming
target communities, as well. This will also deem helpful to the drivers who are
yet striving to make ends meet. Let’s not forget the advantages of being in a
secured environment when traveling with friends or neighbours and getting to
build firmer relations, in a gradual sense. And last this can also ensure a
leeway in terms of environmental emissions.
With the above goal in mind, we are flagging off
with a humble beginning from IIM Bangalore at the earliest! The very place
where our minds synchronised together to aim in building up of a Coterie.
P.S: Real thanks to all for your support, be it in
terms of views, likes, shares or even the well-wished and critiques be it. Hope
to serve you all, with all the Josh!!!
