The recent economic recession in the country has impacted the lives of many people. While some lost their jobs as a result of the sudden layoffs, many lost the mode of transport they used for their daily commute to the office. On one hand, we saw Careem shutting down its food delivery service, on the other Swvl close down its intracity bus service in an attempt to reduce central costs in order to accelerate profitability and achieve positive cash flow by 2023. Swvl’s intracity service fell under one of the major economical modes of transport and provided comfort for the working class and student class alike.
The closedown took many by surprise when in an official notification, SWVL announced that it is discontinuing intracity rides in Multan, Faisalabad, Islamabad, Lahore, and Karachi. It further added that its city-to-city and business-to-business travel service is still available. However, there’s a possibility that this pause might boost the profitability of some car-pooling services that weren’t as often used before. Here we’ll be sharing some alternatives and car-pooling services that you could use for your everyday commute.
Savaree:
Pakistan’s first carpooling mobile application, Savaree, lets you book safe and comfortable rides conveniently.
The user can check the application to see if someone has the same destination and then can contact them to get a ride. The application not only saves one money and time but also lets them meet new people. However, if you’re worried about security don’t worry ‘Savaree’ team seems to have it all figured out. Since all the ‘Savaree’ app users have to share their NIC number in order to get registered for the app.
Ridely Pakistan:
Ridely Pakistan is a long-distance rideshare service in Pakistan. This carpooling app allows its users to select rides based on the route match between two cities. The app focuses on achieving a future of shared mobility.
The Ridely Pakistan app is available across major cities like Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Karachi, Faisalabad, and more. To find a rider with your route, enter your origin and destination city and search for available rides.
Hitchman:
Hitchman offers an app-based car-pooling platform for corporate employees. The app allows users to meet with riders and drivers in a similar location and go to the same office area. It also offers ride-sharing services on a monthly basis. Riders and car owners only need to add home location, office location, and carpool preferences in the app, and then it lets them browse through profiles to find matches. You can even choose who they prefer to carpool with, for a minimum commitment of 1 trip. You can also get requests from potential riders to join.
Users can search for a ride by providing location, passenger details, and some other additional details. The app only focuses on morning and evening office travel and aims to reduce the number of cars on the road. The mobile app is available for both Android and iOS devices.
She’Kab:
She’Kab is a carpooling application specially designed for working women in the country. It is Pakistan’s first-ever subscription-based monthly carpool service for working women, girls, and children. The app connects registered riders to a pool of trusted drivers who provide shared-monthly transportation services to women & girls.
Once you subscribe and enter your pickup and drop-off locations, the app connects you with the available driver on your route. Your estimated fare for one day and for a month is also provided on the application.
SheKabs’ mission is to provide hassle-free monthly services to women and girls, so they can step out of their houses and realize their true potential.
Commuters Family:
Commuters family is a Karachi-based online carpooling platform for daily commutes. It connects passengers with car owners travelling to the same destination.
The platform’s main focus is to make daily commutes easier for the masses, by connecting neighbours sharing the same route and time to reduce the number of vehicles on road, in turn, making the transport system more efficient in the metropolitan.