App to help Dhaka commuters share bike rides

Imagine you are in your Mirpur home in the morning and you get a call and you need to be in downtown ASAP. You're probably thinking you are done.

There is no way you could get there in an hour during the morning rush since your car would be stuck in traffic jams that are one of the worst in the world.

No point hopping on a bus because it will be wedged in the same jam.

You could think about an auto-rickshaw but that would only shave a few minutes off your travel time and finding one willing to take you is a challenge itself, let alone the ridiculous amount of money they would demand turning off their meters. 

What do you do?

From June onwards you could just pick up your smart phone, put in some information in an app and voila, a motorbike could be at your doorstep in minutes to take you to your destination threading you through traffic.

Datavoxel Ltd is going to launch this Uber-style motorbike service app called SAM tomorrow to utilise more than four lakh private motorbikes in Dhaka city to help cut down congestion.

During a press conference at the Spectra Convention Centre yesterday, the company said they would just act as a “matchmaker” between the pillion rider and the biker. This is the first e-hailing platform in Bangladesh, said the company.

“This is an e-commerce service and we are acting as a matchmaker between a bicker and a rider, that will also help reduce traffic congestion of the city,” said Imtiaz Kasem, managing director of the company.

“But it will never play like a taxi service.”

The idea is to Share A Motorcycle (SAM) and the biker and the pillion rider would have to register with authentic information, said Imtiaz.

A passenger would be able to search for bikers in 2 kilometres radius with the app, mentioning the pickup point and the destination, and if a biker agrees, the passengers would be picked up and dropped off at the destination.

The fare is Tk 6 every kilometre and there is no cash involved since payments would be done through an e-wallet. The money would be paid to Datavoxel Ltd and the bikers would get paid on every Thursday through banking channels.

The company took Omera, Rahimafrooz, bKash, Getco & Always online network as their strategic partners for running the service.

SAM was designed in the US by Datavoxel Inc, US, and was made by some engineers from India and Bangladesh, all based in the US.

The company has invested more than $3 million for the service, Imtiaz told The Daily Star.

Datavoxel is already running a pilot project in the capital and plans for expansion in other cities after evaluating the situation in a few months.

“Officially we will launch the service from June 1 and already we have registered around eight hundred bikers,” Imtiaz added.

Before official launch, they plan to register 1,000 bikers and 6,000 riders.

For registration, the company takes information like that in the national identity card, pictures, copy of driving licences, and bank account details of the bikers and the riders, which would help ensure security.

A biker and a passenger would be able to know each other through this information.

“We are not confirming that no incident will happen but we can assure that the system can detect both of them instantly and after completing the mobile SIM re-registration process, things will be easier,” Imtiaz said on security.

The application will be available on Google Play Store from Monday for android devices and the app for the iOS devices would be ready within the next month, they said.

Datavoxel said SAM would be a new transport option for the middle and lower middle income people.

“SAM can help commuters go to their destinations faster, safer and in comfort at a very affordable cost,” said Imtiaz.

In future, Datavoxel Ltd plans to get into parcel delivery service, SAM fleet and even SAM pharmacy on wheels, the MD added.

Datavoxel wrote to four different ministries and two divisions of the government about their business since there were no regulations about the e-commerce service.

“When the government introduces rules or regulations we will definitely comply with that,” said Imtiaz.