Click, transport goods sans hassles

Vasudev Patidar, a transport businessman from Ahmedabad,was first sceptical about joining Transport on Demand  (ToD). “Being in transport business, I have been using a mobile phone to do business and remain connected with my clients but to use an app-based software was new to me.  I was nervous as I was worried about payments and quality of clients that I would get using an online platform,” the 37-year-old said.

      “However, in a span of just 2-3 months, I have seen my income jump by Rs 10,000 a month and I have done business with so many new and good customers, had no payment issues and very few times my tempo has gone empty on a return trip, which has almost given me double money for the same trip.”

Vasudev has been in the transport business for the past five years and would normally park his tempo at a business cross-road waiting for the customer. At times, he would end up haggling with not just his customers but also enter in to an altercation with his fellow tempo drivers and owners.

It is this haggling with drivers that worried Vikram Patel, an owner of chemical factory in Vatva Industrial Estate in Ahmedabad. “On an average, I used tempos for 30-35 times a month. It was painful to connect and convince drivers. Then you got to haggle with him for money and continuously worry about whether he would reach the destination on time and without any loss to me.”

Vikram now connects to ToD app on his smartphone, spends a few minutes, gets competitive bids from various tempo drivers in his vicinity and is also able to track his goods while on the move. “It is one less headache as I now get hassle-free service at affordable rates and it saves me time. It is good use of technology.”

In everyday life, most people face this quandary, be it shifting a house or just selling old furniture on any of the multiple mobile apps. “A market survey in 36 different areas of Ahmedabad told us the irregularity in pricing of booking a tempo. Many a time there was a question mark with regard to the reputation of drivers at tempo stand and people found it difficult to trust them to adhere with timeliness, conduct and responsiveness. Coming from a family that has been in the transport business for over 60 years, I was pretty well-cued in to the dynamics of transport industry and  I realised that every transporter, big or small, institutionalised or at an individual level, that I spoke to had the same issue, and have had the same issue for the past 50 years. I realised that there was work to be done. Now,” says Yash Vasant, co-founder of ToD.

A graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles, (UCLA), with a degree in economics and neuroscience (focusing on behavioural psychology), Yash on completion of his academics consciously decided not to join the transport business. Like most of the youngsters moving back from the US, the last thing on his mind was to engage in a market considered one of the “most unrewarding” in the world.

“As a child my favourite activity was to help drivers park their trucks in Porbandar in Gujarat. But when I came back, I chose to work in a shipping line in Dubai. Later, having done business in India for five years, I came to a sudden realisation—all of us have moved ahead in life, but each one of those drivers that I used to help park, is still doing the same thing and living in the same condition. Life may not be fair but we can definitely do our bit to level the playing field,” he adds.

He joined hands with Dhruv Taneja, a logistics enthusiast with a double master’s, a specialised degree in logistics from IIMA and an exposure to American, East Asian and Indian economies. Dhruv has set up and managed a fleet of over 100 container trailers handling over two million trips a year. Both set out with twin objective in mind, change the language people use for the transporters/drivers and create an ecosystem keeping in mind the livelihoods of the drivers and not just profits.

They also were joined in by Aditi, who has a master’s in industrial engineering from Northeastern University and experience of having worked with Amazon in Boston and Akshay, an IT entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience.

And ToD was born. Today, they have over 500 tempo drivers in their fold and claim that the application helps unshackle the logistics business from viciousness of prices, untimely delivery, the right of the driver to say no or not to show up or even pick up your call or more importantly the proof of delivery.

They train the drivers not just about rules and regulations but even soft skills of dealing with the customers. “Not only do we bring about a change in the daily lives of drivers and give them an opportunity to make more money but try and bring about a lasting behavioural change. We believe that good drivers bring in great customers because for customers it is not just about the price but also the experience,” Yash adds.

As for the pricing, the concept of market demand and supply comes to full play and  drivers online need to bid aggressively if they seek to win the business.

As for the drivers, ToD helps them decide their work time and their rates. If you are already used to hiring taxis to move yourselves and your loved ones within the city or to other cities, other than ToD, you also have multiple options of similar apps in the logistics field.

With eight million registered goods vehicle across India and transport sector contributing about 5.5 % to India’s GDP, the road freight movement is now expected to grow at a CAGR of 12.17% by 2020, driven largely by the growth in the manufacturing, retail, FMCG and e-commerce sectors. India’s third-party logistics too is expected to be worth $ 301.89 billion by 2020.

But if you are not excited about the statistics but worried more about moving the goods you just sold on your mobile with a click of a button, don’t worry. Just a few more clicks and your goods are ready to be delivered, courtesy apps on your phone and the back-end technology that runs them.