Are you tired of taking Daewoo and fussing with public transport? Are rising rickshaw prices driving you nuts? Or just trying to get a ride from a friend and no one wants to go your way? If so, then the makers of Savaree app have found a solution for you.
Credit: Savaree Facebook
Savaree is a carpooling app that is open source and free to use, which allows users to find rides to places they would like to go. The service is free of charge, though it is expected people who ride along might want to chip in for sundries like snacks.
Need A Savaree?
Here’s how it works: Drivers planning a trip will update their route on the app, along with what time they will be going. Anyone wanting to ride along can check if anyone is driving to the same destination, and if the time coincides.
Savaree goes a step further than just showing who is going where when, and also “matches drivers with passengers that belong to the same institute or organization, who have a much higher probability of matching interests and personal preferences.” This makes it easier to find people going the same route, and because of this, “people are much more likely to engage in carpooling.”
Currently, features of the app include: posting routes and estimated time of departure, and the ability to search this out either by location or planned journey. Users can expect a ‘Badge Incentivization’ feature and ratings and feedback options to be added on soon. The app developers have also disclosed that they are working on enabling GPS tracking which will make the service safer and easier to manage.
The Team Behind Savaree
Savaree was developed as a response to what the app makers felt was a significant need in our society today. They explained in an interview with Appistan: “In the last few years, traffic in Lahore has gone from bad to worse. Carpooling has successfully reduced traffic and distributed the burden of driving in many countries around the world. Why not try to introduce carpooling here? Given the security situation in our country, can we come up with something that will reduce people’s hesitation and help them share rides?”
Savaree was envisioned and developed by Madeeha Hassan (@mad_world89) and Qasim Zafar (Facebook page), and later Zuhaira Farooq (@ZuhairaFarooq), Ahmad Jabbar (Facebook page) and Faisal Basra (@faisalgeek) also joined their project.
Explaining their motivation behind this free service, they said, “it never should be all about the money, and it never is all about the money. There is more to life than that. Every once in a while, you should do something just for the sake of helping somebody out.”
Madeeha Hassan and Qasim Zafar got their start at the 2014 Lahore Civic Hackathon, an event where various app and web developers “create civic solutions for Lahore.” While they did not place in the top three contestants, they won the title of Audience Favorite.
After this, they went on to compete at the LUMS Entrepreneurship Challenge, a competition that received over 700 entries from all over the country. Savaree came in at third place and impressed everyone with their prototype.
They recently launched the app version that is currently available, on April 15th. You can get it here. It is available on Google Play and versions for Windows and Apple devices are being worked on.
But Is It Safe?
The foremost concern when using this app is safety. In an interview, the app makers explained: “The idea behind Savaree is to try to encourage carpooling while maintaining trust among the carpoolers.” This issue of trust is important enough that one requirement when registering to use the app is that users must submit their NIC numbers.
While this may improve users confidence in the process, it would be advisable for people using this app to check this information thoroughly before agreeing to rides. It is expected though that as carpooling through this app becomes more common and people are able to put up reviews and ratings of drivers, it will be easier to judge which rides are a good idea and which aren’t.
Innovative Startup
Savaree has launched and developed in a relatively short period of time and though it’s app is still being developed, it is impressive. It is this sort of innovation that can assist in alleviating common problems for people and perhaps ultimately finding solutions for reducing air pollution by cutting down the number of drivers on the road in Pakistan. The app has a lot of potential, and it is with anticipation that we are waiting to see where it goes next.
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