India is one of the busiest urban rapid transit hubs in the world in terms of metro-rail ridership. According to a report published in 2021, a total of 2,636 million people travel annually in metro systems across the thirteen major cities of the country. While metro-rails have made intra-city commutes hassle-free, the commuters still have to face problems while travelling from various parts of the city to metro stations. Now, with an aim to offer AI-powered affordable commuting solutions to metro users, MetroRide was founded.
MetroRide is a first and last-mile ride hauling service that connects commuters from the metro stations to high request destinations. The company says that it operates through an AI-powered cloud-based application to provide 100 per cent green travel solutions to its customers. It also aims to bolster the EV adoption landscape in India with its electric vehicles. To understand more about the company and their future plans, we interact with Mr. Girish Nagpal (CEO) and Kaaman Agarwal (CTO), MetroRide.
An overview of MetroRide’s market in India and how it is shaping up?
MetroRide is an AI-powered urban mobility solution dedicated to daily affordable commute. They connect daily commuters to high-frequency hubs like metro stations, universities and corporate parks within a 5-mile radius. According to the company, there are over 7 million commuters using metro-rail every day, across 16 Indian metro systems, and this number is set to double by 2025. However, the current ridership numbers are less than 1/3rd of the projected ridership in almost all these metro systems due to a lack of effective connectivity between homes/offices & metro stations. MetroRide says that they are bridging this gap and see a huge potential in the coming years too.
How is MetroRide making our cities decongested & carbon-free?
The urban commute is one of the largest sources of pollution as most of it is driven by fossil fuels. Research shows that most people in metro cities use vehicles individually which puts a huge strain on our infrastructure causing congestion & pollution in our cities. MetroRide says that they provide an efficient first & last-mile connectivity solution and hence promote ride-sharing, electric adoption and increase metro-rail ridership. The company says that they decrease the carbon footprint and congestion not just from the first & last mile but also for longer routes by increasing metro ridership. In the last 3 quarters, MetroRide claims that they have saved a carbon footprint of over 1,00,000 kg through all-electric shared mobility solutions.
What are the first & last mile mobility solutions offered by MetroRide?
MetroRide is a solution dedicated to ‘short-distance daily commute’ which constitutes the majority of the total urban commute globally. The company’s focus is to make the first & last mile rides affordable, punctual & sustainable. They connect commuters to & from their closest metro stations using EVs. Currently, they use three-wheelers as the form factor but the platform is agnostic of form factor and they plan to launch other vehicles too. MetroRide is currently present in Delhi, Bangalore and Noida. The commuters can book rides using their iOS or Android app.
What are the USPs of MetroRide that help the metro commuters?
There are a few other options which the customers have to commute to and from metro stations. The way MetroRide claims they have differentiated themselves is by creating a niche for the daily commuters. After extensive research, they found that the two most important KPIs for a daily metro commuter are affordability & wait times. The company says that they have invested a lot in technology to build their systems in a way that they deliver on these KPIs way better than any other competitor. MetroRide says that this separates them from other options.
MetroRide’s strengths and weaknesses and the company’s journey so far?
MetroRide claims that since their formal launch, they have served over 2,00,000 commuters in less than 10 months of operations. According to the company, their solution serves the two most critical needs of daily commuters: Affordability & Minimal wait times. The company says its average price is Rs 15, which offers savings of upto 80 per cent compared to other ride-hailing options while their average wait time per ride has been 2:01 minutes, against 12-15 minutes for other ride-hailing services. MetroRide says that catering to what the daily commuter needs have been their biggest strength. Whereas, to customize the solution for the daily commuter, they have to forego a segment of customers who travel once in a while and want doorstep pickups.
Anything else you want to share on the company’s future plans?
MetroRide’s spokesperson says that from day 1, they were clear that they are building a tech platform and not a transport company. “Technology is the biggest differentiator with our proprietary AI engine – VIKI. Viki is the central nervous system for our business. Starting from booking a ride using an AI based WhatsApp/SMS chatbot to identifying the best possible routes for demand planning to finding the most eligible driver for a ride, VIKI does it all. Fraud detection is another important element of our business.”
He further added, “Viki’s facial recognition-based fraud detection system ensures minimum to NO revenue leakage. This makes us scalable with minimal efforts whenever we launch newer markets.” MetroRide revealed that they will be soon closing their pre-series A round using which they will reach a milestone of 8M rides. The company also disclosed that they will increase their footprint in India as well as launch their first 2 stations in the USA. “Having proved our model in the two important countries, we will do our Series A round of appx $15-18 million. We see this as a global opportunity that will make urban commute not just affordable & quicker but also sustainable.”
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