Meet the startup that turns airport rides into cheap Ola-Uber carpools

Akash Jadhav, founder of GoPool

Akash Jadhav, a techie, was on a flight to Bengaluru last year when he overheard a fellow passenger say that she was travelling to Electronics City, a destination more than 50 kilometres away from the airport, which happened to be in the direction he was headed.

"As we both collected our luggage off the baggage carousel, I approached her and asked her politely if we could share an Uber ride since the fare was around Rs 1,500. She agreed, and we split the cost, with my destination coming up first and hers just 500 metres further,” Jadhav told Moneycontrol.

“During the journey, I asked her if she was comfortable sharing a cab with a stranger. She said it is a common practice outside airports. This sparked an idea. After a brief survey, I found that in India and elsewhere, there are many cities where the airport is far from the city centre. This is causing hefty cab expenses ... people want to save money on their airport trips." he said.

The conversation led Jadhav to eventually launch ‘GoPool’, where passengers can find co-travellers before their cab trips, allowing them to share a taxi to and from airports. To be sure, the sharing happens just between the two travellers and the cab aggregator is not involved in any way.

The platform was launched in February 2023 while Jadhav was working on another startup. A year later, this February, he left his job to focus on marketing and creating awareness about his new carpooling idea.

His efforts seem to have paid off. From a mere idea, GoPool is now operational in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Goa, and Pune. "We now have around 25,000 users, and over the past week, the app has been seeing between 50 to 125 daily users. It was initially just a Proof of Concept, but it began gaining traction around 4-5 months ago," he said. He added that the service is popular in Bengaluru because of increased user awareness.

Jadhav, 36, holds a Bachelor's degree in Information Technology from MIT, Pune, with 13 years of experience in the software industry. "Before GoPool, I tried six other ideas, all of which failed. Fortunately, GoPool is now gaining traction so I left the job and am now fully committed to scaling this idea,” he said.

The company is bootstrapped, which means Jadhav has put in his own money and has spent Rs 1.5 lakh to cover server bills, OTP services, business registrations and marketing expenses, which are mostly paid out to influencers.

“The cost of building an app and website is free since I developed it myself. I'll invest under Rs 10 lakh by December. I've been saving up to invest in this venture and can sustain it till the end of this year. My goal is to make GoPool a success by then and expand it to other cities and globally," Jadhav said.

He added that while the company is engaging with potential investors, it is not at the desired scale yet and once that happens, he’ll explore investment options.

'Not making money now'

Jadhav said GoPool is now in the pre-revenue stage and he has plans to launch a business model once the company establishes its presence in the market. "I'm not making any money from GoPool yet since I've decided to keep it free until it reaches a certain level of success for both users and myself. When people share a ride, the financial transactions are between them. Once they connect, figure out which cab to take, and multiple stops, GoPool's job is done.

On the financial viability of this model, he said: "It will depend on the data and the kind of travellers on the app — age group, profession, and frequency. Depending on these factors, there will be a credit or subscription model. I could even collaborate with established cab vendors and take a margin from them."

Also, read: BluSmart takes on Uber, Ola, launches cab pickup zone at Bengaluru airport

While GoPool makes no money yet, some were worried that if the business picks up, it will lead to reduced earnings for cab drivers.

"Those travelling to and from the airport are often on business trips and prioritise safety and privacy over cost. Carpooling would impact drivers as it would reduce the number of trips taken by passengers and reduce earnings," Hamid Akbar Ali, President, Airport Taxi Owners' Association told Moneycontrol.

How does it work?

GoPool offers a co-traveller discovery service tailored for airport trips. Users can find fellow travellers and then book any cab with multiple stops, splitting the total journey cost among themselves. This model works well for single passengers who are travelling light to and from the airport.

While Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC)’s Vayu Vajra bus fare is around Rs 300, it does not provide door-step service, and passengers need to rely on auto rickshaws or taxis for first and last-mile connectivity. Cab fare, on the other hand, ranges between Rs 1,000-1,500.

In this model, a user can add additional stops on the same Ola-Uber trip, and the fare will be divided among the number of users connected through the GoPool app. It even allows users to schedule journeys for a later date.

"If a user, for instance, is planning a trip from Indiranagar to the airport in the next 10 days, they can create a session in the app in advance. The app will display a list of users travelling on that day or notify them if anyone joins the queue." Jadhav said.

Currently, GoPool does not offer its own cab service, but may consider it in the future.

The Zepto connection

If you feel you’ve heard of GoPool before Jadhav spoke about it, that might just be the case. Aadit Palicha, co-founder and CEO of Zepto, a quick commerce app, had a similar idea with the same name, Go Pool, during his school days.

Palicha developed his idea of Go Pool at the age of 15, while studying in Dubai. It was designed for parents to create a pooling system where they could take turns to drop their kids off at school.

Jadhav, however, said the two ideas are unrelated. “I stumbled upon Aadit Palicha’s app while uploading my GoPool on app stores. Despite attempting to reach out to him, I received no response. But I can confidently say that the concept behind GoPool is drawn from my own experiences," he was quick to clarify.

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Safety is ensured, claims firm
Jadhav said the company ensures the safety of passengers through an Aadhaar verification. It also checks the user's LinkedIn profile to assess their professional experience.

"This is primarily done so that users can find co-travellers from their own company or college if they are students. This instils more confidence in them. Reviewing their professional history brings additional confidence," he said, adding that a LinkedIn verification is not mandatory, but only an additional step.

There is also an added layer for female passengers.

"Female users travelling alone at odd hours can filter by gender and opt to find a female co-traveller, which will be more comfortable than travelling with a male stranger or taking a cab alone," he said.

Also read: MC Explainer: What is the controversy surrounding carpooling in Bengaluru?

'Not illegal'

Jadhav said carpooling with yellow-board vehicles is not illegal. "But navigating the regulatory landscape poses a major challenge, particularly in Karnataka, where regulations are constantly evolving. Carpooling using non-commercial (white-board) vehicles is (illegal) and prohibited, but GoPool users share cabs (yellow board) to or from the airport, instead of using their vehicles, which is legal," he said.

GoPool is the only company to have tapped into a model that leverages the network of yellow-board vehicles instead of white-boards. Mobility firms like Quick Ride and BlaBlaCar offer carpooling services, but they use private vehicles, which according to the Motor Vehicle Rules, is illegal.

In the pre-Covid period, Ola and Uber used to operate similar shared services, but they stopped offering them after the pandemic.

A senior transport department official conceded that the GoPool arrangement is not illegal and noted that it has not faced any challenges yet. "Taxis have contract carriage permits, allowing them to transport passengers for hire under specific agreements from point to point. They cannot pick up multiple passengers along the way from different points, as only Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation holds the exclusive stage carriage permit in Bengaluru. However, if passengers arrange to share a yellow-board taxi before the trip, there is no illegality. We have not received any complaints so far," the official told Moneycontrol.

Also, read: MC Investigation: How a Bengaluru cab driver used a fake fare screenshot to scam airport passengers