redBus starts carpooling pilot for office-goers in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune

Online bus-ticketing platform redBus has launched a pilot intra-city carpooling service for professionals in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Pune. The rPool service, integrated with the redBus app, enables private vehicle owners to offer rides.

The service will verify profiles of ride-givers and ride-takers through mobile numbers and corporate email ids. As private car owners cannot operate carpools for “hire or reward” under law, rPool gives ride-givers incentives in the form of reward points that can be redeemed at fuel stations and Amazon Pay. 

For the first five years, MakeMyTrip-backed redBus will be charging zero commissions for the first 500 rides across the cities. 

“rPool, our new carpooling service, is a systematic solution, not only to decongest roads, but also to offer commuters a viable option that helps them save fuel and time. With the right implementation and adoption at scale, carpooling can significantly reduce vehicular traffic during peak hours in urban cities,” said Prakash Sangam, chief executive of redBus, in a statement. 

Apart from taxi-cab apps, others like Pune-headquartered corporate-focused carpooling app sRide, which was in talks with Ola to raise funding, and New Delhi-based bike and carpooling app Pooltoo are some of rPool’s competitors. French carpooling marketplace BlaBlaCar left India two years ago, while Meru and Ibibo’s attempts at carpooling failed to take off.