Travly made easy

Getting a rickshaw at your doorstep is not an easy task for common commuters, and haggling over the fare is even harder, in a city that probably has the largest number of these vehicles in the entire country.

In order to address the issue, a group of young, IT-savvy entrepreneurs have created an android mobile application (App) that provides Tuk-tuk (rickshaw) service from your choice point A to B.

Catchily named ‘Travly,’ the mobile app became operational very recently. Initially, it was available in Defence Housing Authority (DHA) and Johar Town only. But gradually it has expanded its services to Sui Gas Society, Model Town, Faisal Town, Askari XI, HBFC Society, Punjab Society, EME Housing Society and Canal View.

You just need to download APP Travly or sign in on www.travly.io. The boys aim to extend the service to other major parts of the city.

In Lahore, thousands of people commute on rickshaws. The vehicle is quite common in the South East Asia where it is generally known as Tuk-tuk. The Uber-like rickshaw app service is quickly becoming popular with the commuters.

Shahmir Khan, 25, is the chief operational officer of the company that launched the app. "Taxis and private cars are expensive to rent in the city, and buses and vans are often overcrowded and do not take you to your precise destination. That’s when the commuters prefer rickshaw," he tells TNS.

Khan terms rickshaw as the "only convenient form of transport."

The service was launched two weeks ago, and the group intends to make it available round the clock.

All you have to do is download the app on your android phone, sign in and send a message when you want the rickshaw. "We respond quickly, and also tell the customer of the service charges that vary with the destination," says Khan.

"The service offered comes cheap, compared to the fare ‘normally’ asked by the rickshaw guys," he adds.

The response so far, says Shahmir Khan, has been very encouraging. "We’ve been aggressively expanding [the service] in Lahore, adding new areas to our coverage fold."

He also speaks of "more than 300 tuk-tuks on board with us. We receive hundreds of queries every day. Things are looking good!"

"It is of help, indeed!" says Ayesha Mahmood, a working woman who is based in Johar Town. "Earlier, I had to go up to a [rickshaw] stop and indulge in a long, haggling debate with the rickshaw driver, which would waste a lot of my time."

The initiative was launched by a group of five youngsters -- namely Faizan Khan, Muhammad Mehmood Ali, Muhammad Zohaib, Talaal Burny and Shahmir Khan -- three of whom are software engineers who graduated from Beaconhouse National University (BNU).

Faisal Sher Jan, the group’s mentor and investor, says the idea is based in the simple fact that those who ply rickshaws on the road are not your servants; it’s only a means of their subsistence.

"When we conducted a survey for our small business enterprise, there was an overwhelming response from the rickshaw lot who wanted to increase their income and avoid having to wait endlessly for customers at times."

Jan says the input of almost 1,300 rickshaw drivers was included in the survey before the project was launched.

The company plans to further educate and train the rickshaw drivers in order to make the vehicle a better substitute for commuters in posh localities also.

All told, the venture came about a year after two small entrepreneurship projects with Punjab information Technology Board (PITB) had happened. During the projects (Plan 9 and Plan X), a part of the PITB plan to encourage youngsters to come up with innovative ideas, the said group launched their App Travly in 2014 in which they did mapping of routes of all public transport buses in the city.

November last, the group signed on a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Lahore Transport Company (LTC) to digitise all public transport routes through dissemination services.

"We are getting ready to facilitate the commuters at any time of the day without any hassle or delay. This is Travly, affordable rickshaw service at your doorstep!"