RowdyAuto wants to tackle the auto menace by crowdsourcing auto driver ratings
India is experiencing rapid urbanization and motorization, with the urban population growing at the rate of 3.16% per year and motor vehicles at 9 percent. According to EMBARQ reports - 75% of the global auto-rickshaw population is found in India. There is a significant lack of standardized and transparent analytical framework for frame fixation and revision across cities.
Over the years, there has seen a steep decline in customer friendliness and professionalism exhibited by auto drivers. Everyone of us has their own tales to tell. Soumajit Bhowmik is one such individual who believes the situation has become deplorable enough that people simply expect many auto drivers to overcharge or misbehave. Thus, RowdyAuto.in was born with a need to make auto rickshaw travel safer.
It began when, once, while Soumajit was at a signal with his car in neutral, and a rickshaw driver rammed into his car, later demanding money for damages. The police, too, was not quite proactive in solving the issue. After a lot of deep thought and support from an IIT Kharagpur batchmate, Saswata Banerjee, RowdyAuto was conceived. He tells us that they’re planning to launch a mobile app along with a dedicated phone number service soon.
The main idea behind RowdyAuto is very simple, explains Soumajit. The optimum methodology according to them is to develop a comprehensive database of almost all auto rickshaws plying in the city. The database would serve as a ratings system, providing unruly auto rickshaw drivers incentives from the portal on practicing safe driving, customer-friendliness, and avoid over-charging.
Right now the portal functions in very easy 3 steps -
- Search – Search by License Plate number, and know about the auto driver’s history
- Review – Write a review on your recent auto ride, to let everyone know.
- Decide – Take an informed decision by avoiding notorious drivers.
Having launched just last week, they’ve received nearly 125 entries till date, and plan to source 1500 to 2500 entries by mid-July.
RowdyAuto aims to reinforce positive behavior by sourcing and identifying hard-working auto rickshaw drivers who do not over-charge their customers. They want to build together a safer, better and more reliable auto rickshaw system in the city within the next 5 years, to hopefully make the change from RowdyAuto.in to AwesomeAuto.in!
