How Shared Mobility Will Transform The Future Of Mobility In India
There are over 350 million commute trips in India every day. Only 18% of Indians have access to a personal vehicle. However, considering limited access and lack of affordability and reliability of other options like taking a cab or taking an auto, most Indians end up using our already overburdened public transport system. When I first moved to Bangalore, I started with car-pooling or hailing an auto, but I eventually had to buy my own motorcycle. My co-founders too had similar experiences and we all felt transportation was fundamentally broken in India, and that is a significant problem to solve. That is why we started Vogo, India’s largest scooter sharing company, and the strong demand and scale we’ve seen in a short duration tells us that we are on the right track.
The average Indian spends 2X the global average on the commute and a considerable amount of time tuck in traffic. Imagine the stress it puts on the economy, not to mention the frustration the individual faces. I believe that scooter sharing could be the right model to help solve this. It’s a hassle-free, affordable, easy-to-use alternative for needs of consumers across demographics — be it first or last-mile feeder to public transport, short intra-neighbourhood trips or daily commute.
Cutting edge, IOT based micro-mobility solutions like scooters which can be easily accessed through an app has helped us disrupt the Indian mobility space. IoT (Internet of Things) technology for the rented scooters serve a twin purpose – it makes the entire booking process automated, enabling faster scale, and allows the service provider to remotely monitor and control the scooter, thereby ensuring the security of the asset. This helps make the scooter rental services viable model for both the consumers and service providers.
Electric vehicles will redefine the Indian mobility market. They are exactly what our cities need today — eco-friendly, easy to maintain, and cost-efficient. Given the nascent nature of the electric vehicle market in India, finding the right electric two-wheeler for Indian roads and financing them is the key challenge in building a large fleet. An effective partnership between OEMs and other players in the electric ecosystem will help build a large and reliable network of electric scooters for the consumers in the future.
Servicing the micro-mobility needs of any city requires the solution to be nearly ubiquitous. Across the world, the growth of the micro-mobility space has been about building out larger and more reliable fleets. This is particularly crucial for dense and congested Indian megacities. If people could rent a scooter whenever and wherever they need, it would be more convenient, faster and affordable than other options and be a huge relief to urban traffic. We have established partnerships across the mobility ecosystem, starting with Hero and Ola, our strategic investors to deliver on this promise to customers. This is our vision with Vogo – to democratize access to mobility in India by marrying the affordability of public transport with the convenience of personal ownership.
