Meru launches carpooling service

The carpool service is available on Meru's existing app, reports Tech in Asia

Meru, India’s first large organised personal transportation firm, today announced the launch of a ridesharing service. The service, available on Meru’s existing app, offers a personal ridesharing option for people travelling in the same direction or area.
 

“[There’s] a growing consciousness amongst people about the need to reduce congestion, pollution, and stress associated with travel especially on daily traffic-heavy routes,” says Meru CEO Siddhartha Pahwa. “The carpool initiative aims to encourage a simple act of reducing the one-person per vehicle issue through a communal effort.”
 

According to a recent survey, one-fourth of commuters in India spend over 90 minutes per day travelling to work and meetings. In addition, one-third of respondents drive to work using their car, and half of that drive without any passengers.

Meru says the carpool service will enable personal vehicle owners and city commuters to reduce their daily travel costs and simplify their commute in a safe and secured environment.
 

Meru’s ICE (in case of emergency) feature on the app allows passengers to share details about their location to emergency contacts.
 

The ride payment transaction is conducted through the in-app PayTM mobile wallet.
 

Meru is not the first Indian start-up to enter the ridesharing space. Earlier, local start-ups like RideInSync and Cubito entered the space but later they pivoted to employee transportation service due to inability to achieve scale.
 

With the service, Meru competes with Rocket Internet-backed Tripda and Europe’s BlaBlaCar.
 

Uber is known to have carpooling services in other countries. It hasn’t launched in India yet. And Ola is sure to enter the space. When they do, it isn’t clear if Meru will have a competitive advantage.

This is an excerpt from Tech in Asia. You can read the full article here.