Start-ups help make public transport safer for commuters, post-Covid

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Start-ups help make public transport safer for commuters, post-Covid

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• For the masses: The masses can't afford cars and cabs, and must use trains and buses. Since the pandemic disrupted everything, many tech-enabled solutions popped up in public transport too.
• Start-ups in commutation: New firms are offering new solutions - for contactless payments, voice-enabled ticketing, etc. 

1. Bhopal City Link (a bus operator) is using "Sound QR" of Chalo, which is an ultrasound technology for mobile tickets verification. Since QR scanning in a moving bus is tough, Chalo App can be used by passengers (just hold near the conductor's ETIM and ticket is validated using Sound QR) and in 2 seconds, it's done.
2. Chalo App allows passengers see real-time location of buses and a heat map of crowding too. So passengers can choose to wait more or change their route, etc.
3. Before the pandemic, bus operators had little interest in investing in technology solutions, but then it became imperative to do so. Since the market is fragmented, that used to be another problem.

• More players jump in: Another startup from IIIT-D named "Chartr" is trying to make public transportation as easy as entering a restaurant.

1. The product must automatically recognise the bus a passenger boards, the stop used, and where he is likely to get off (based on earlier trends) and notify with "buy ticket"?
2. This start-up got some grants too, and is now offering services for 6700 DTC cluster buses in Delhi
3. Goal is to open up bus-running information for customers, who can access it through various meta-search engines (as for airlines)
4. To do this, they work with transport departments, and open up their transit data. Finally one day, someone like Paytm or MMT may show public buses data and offer customers facility to book tickets
5. To battle patchy internet at places, they use "near-field communication technology" for ticketing.   (NFC)

• NCMC: The National Common Mobility Card (interoperable) was launched in 2020 by GoI, and using that framework, a firm called CitiCash (Mumbai) offers an NFC-based smart card to be used for transacting in offline mode in transit and retail (tap n pay). The idea is to make it work in transit, so customer acquisition can be very fast. Habit change will be from cash, to tap-and-pay.
• Times change: Till date, prior to the pandemic, tech adoption in transportation was when millions of VC funding happened (for Ola, Uber, Shuttl etc.). But now, it's changing. 
• Volume: India has 7 crore daily bus trips. Total spend on shared commutes is more than $80 billion, including autos, buses, trains, cabs and others. Buses make up more than $20 b of this. Clearly, the wheels are only just beginning to roll on this one.

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