RedBus launches carpooling

RedBus, an online bus ticketing platform, has launched carpooling service, rPool. Working professionals can find and offer car rides in their personal cars between their home and workplace through this platform. To ensure that it is not commercialised, the car owner is allowed to offer a maximum of two rides per day. “In order to build a trusted community of ride givers and ride takers, rPool is restricted to working professionals undertaking daily commute. Users are verified through their mobile number and organisation’s corporate email id,” says Prakash Sangam, CEO, redBus.

Users can find and offer rides in real time as well as create a ride alert in advance. “Our platform connects ride givers and riders in the fastest and most convenient manner possible. The matching algorithm ensures that ride givers don’t have to take any detours from their daily work route and riders get to travel the maximum distance of their commute as a part of the shared ride,” explains Sangam.

The car owner can set a per kilometre charge, which is capped at Rs 5/ km for hatchbacks and Rs 6/km for sedans and SUVs. Payment between the two parties is based on a points system. The rider has to buy points before the ride starts that autodebits on ride completion and gets credited in the car owner’s rPool wallet. One point is worth Rs 1. The ride giver can redeem his accumulated points at fuel stations and Amazon Pay. For redeeming points at a fuel station, one has to register separately for a free virtual TMW card, which automatically gets linked to the rPool wallet upon registration. TMW card can be used at most petrol and CNG stations.


There are no incentives for the riders, except that it is economical compared to cab pool services. A 10km UberPool ride during peak office hours costs about Rs 120, whereas a similar rPool ride at Rs 5/km will cost the rider Rs 50.

The service is currently available in Hyderabad, Pune and Bengaluru.