Car pools just an SMS away

Car pools just an SMS away
The Times of India

Bangalore: Do you use lack of flexibility as an excuse for not signing up for a car pool? Then www.commuteeasy.com has a solution — SMS integration.
The website, which is a free online car and bike pool forum, has tied up with group messaging service Activ Mobs to co-ordinate poolers. “The idea is that you can reach out to all members of the group with one sms. You can communicate timing rescheduling or absence through this,” says CommuteEasy founder Vipul Kasera.
You can create and start using a mobile group for your pool in three simple steps by sending three SMSes to 98446 22848. So the next time you want to leave 15 minutes earlier to be in time for that 9 am meeting, just shoot an SMS to 98446 22848 and your car is sure to be there earlier than regular time for you.
Kasera plans to extend the concept to a super pool which comprises of more pools with similar routes. Suppose there are five pools that pass by your place in say, Koramangala that go to your office in say Electronic City and you will be late by 20 minutes, your SMS will not just reach all the members of your pool, but also the other four pools and one of them can pick you up.
Currently, the website has over 2,800 registered users, where men form a majority of at least 2,000. “But now that the concept is catching on, we’re getting more hits from women as well,” Kasera is quick to add.
He’s also been approached by leading corporates to open exclusive webpages for their employees on the site. “The concept of pooling is catching on and with most IT professionals spending a major chunk of their time online, net-pooling is the way to go,” he says.
Kasera has designed posters and bumper stickers which are on the website. “To print them out and plaster the city with them, I need some funding,” he smiles. The success of CommuteEasy has prompted Kasera to open out the service in Pune as well. “We started around a month ago. But we have to market the concept aggressively for it to become a success.”
HOW TO LOG ON
First, create a nickname for yourself. All messages sent by you will be prefixed with this name. For example: name vipul.
To create a group or ‘mob’ for your car pool, SMS the word ‘mob’ followed by the name you want for your mob. For example: mob pool.
And now, add people to your car-pool mob by sending the add instruction followed by the mob name and their names and phone numbers. If you have several people to add, you’ll need to send multiple add commands. Example: add pool John 9845000000 Meena 98440000000