Traveling for people who do not own vehicles has always been a trouble in Kathmandu, esp in office hours. The rapid increase in population, improper management of routes, vehicles and roads are the main reasons for the difficult public transport. People either need to go through crowded and uncomfortable public buses or travel by Taxi. Taxis are not affordable for most people and you also have to do the futile bargaining. Now, a new solution has been there from sometime which provides a hassle free, easy and fast travel by bike. Tootle app, an innovative mobile application can provide easy travel across the city, using the bike ride sharing or we would like to call bike taxi solution. Now this tootle app bike ride has become very popular in Kathmandu.
Tootle app has been there for more than a year now. Before it was not easy to get a rider from the app an we could see a few no of riders in the map. But now people have started embracing the digital means of getting several services and ride sharing app is one of them. Out of the several such ride sharing solution, this app stands out and it is very popular among youths for both either using it for easy travel or using it to earn some money. When we tried to book a bike for the travel, we found lot of riders around which means it is being used in large numbers now. The app is already downloaded for more than 50,000 till now. The travel is considered as safe as they can share their travel using a tracking code and also include insurance for travelers and riders.
Features of Tootle app
Here are the features of the Tootle app.
- Cost, Very affordable than taxis. (Minimum Rs 60 for 3 km) but higher than the public transport fare
- Ease of calling riders nearby and pay as mentioned in the app.
- Faster than public transport.
- Safe for women as they can choose women riders
- Insurance for all.
How to use Tootle app bike ride travel?
Here are the steps for how to use Tootle app for the ride sharing in Kathmandu
- First you need to download the app and register for yourself.
- Use the app to request for pickup with the drop location in the map.
- You can select the time of pickup, as soon as possible to 1 hr later. The payment of Tootle ride fare can also be from Tootle balance (transfer from other wallets) or Cash, which needs to be specified in the beginning. You can also select your gender preference.
- After selecting the pickup time, payment mode and preference, you can confirm for the ride.
- Once you confirm, you need to wait (less than 5 minutes now) for the riders to accept the travel ride and you will get a call for the ride to pickup.
- Rider will come to your location or use any landmark place for the pickup.
- After the completion of travel, give the rider code to the biker so as to complete the ride.
At last, do not forget to rate the travel based on the easiness of ride. Do not just give 5 star, else give a genuine star so as to help them improve.
Lets encourage it for sustainable growth
We have also found some people to take the phone number of the bikers for later travel. Which is quite detrimental to the creators and creation. They have invested their effort, money for this innovative startup and we are not encouraging it.!!! That’s not fair. So, we request people not to do the direct call, instead always use the Tootle app to request and travel. We should help them grow and sustain so that similar kind of life changing innovation reach us for making our lives better.
This app was selected for the innovation funding by GSMA.