Mittal has developed a website to help commuters share rides.
By Sreekanth A Nair
As Delhi is preparing to implement the odd-even formula for cars from January 1, 2016, many commuters are confused about making arrangements to reach office on time.
A 13-year-old teenager, Akshat Mittal, has come up with a website to help commuters plan their journey when the formula comes into play.
The website created by Mittal will help commuters identify people from their locality with whom they can share rides. Anybody who wishes to share rides can register with the website by providing their source, destination, time, car type, registration number, gender preference etc.
If somebody doesn’t want to use their car or just want to hitch a ride, or doesn’t have a car, they need not give details like car number and car type.
Once the registration is done, one will be provided with the details of people with whom he or she could share a ride. They can contact each other offline and plan their ride.
The website (www.odd-even.com) is live. Mittal is working on a mobile app which he wishes to make available soon.
“The system runs on complex planning and matching algorithms, based on choice of age/gender/profession among others,” Mittal was quoted as saying by The Economic Times.
At present, the website supports only point-to-point pooling which will be expanded to on-route dropping and other options in the near future itself.
The website uses a particular algorithm that enables it to shortlist matches on the basis of odd/even car numbers and other preferences, which is entirely different from other carpooling apps and sites.
“Most of the carpooling apps today wants to provide convenience to the commuters in the form of linking people wanting to share a ride. However, they have no considerations regarding the odd and even number, which will be the case from January 1, 2016. Currently, all other apps are aimed at citizens looking to lessen the burden of the cost of fuel and the ones looking at a convenient mode of transport,” Mittal told the Times.
Mittal is a student of Amity International, Noida, and an active member of TiE Delhi-NCR Young Entrepreneur Program (TYE).
Mittal is planning to develop the website by integrating with other online platforms.
“As a part of our second stage, we want to introduce layers of security that would look to take care of any exigencies. We would also ask commuters to log in through their Facebook or LinkedIn profile to ensure they are genuine and upload their government-issued identities such as Adhaar card etc. Also, surveys show most people are discoverable as second degree of contact and by integrating their social media profile it would enable another layer of security,” he added.
A notable feature of the website is that it can provide the details of cars that are available for pooling on a given date. The website can connect people based on multiple preferences even after the odd-even system is dropped.
1 Comment
Your suggestion for odd even formula is the best ever. My age is 10 but i like your solution for this thing