After on-demand cab aggregators like Ola and Uber have made it convenient to move from point A to point B, can mass aggregators be far behind? Shuttl, an on-demand bus aggregator, aims to provide an easy and safe commute to office-goers. On offer are air-conditioned buses, reserved seats and flexible timing. Co-founders Amit Singh and Deepanshu Malviya launched the mobile application in April 2015 as a solution to address the problem in the mass transportation space. “Cab services were out of reach for a large part of the country. We wanted to solve the problem for someone who couldn’t afford a car,” says Singh.
With around 500 buses operating on more than 50 routes, Shuttl is currently functioning intra-city in Faridabad, Gurgaon, Noida and other parts of Delhi and NCR. Elaborating on what the start-up provides, Singh says, “There is information available on the origin and destination of every bus. The user can track every bus to adjust his schedule.”
About the business model, Singh points out that the buses are outsourced and none of the drivers are on payroll of the company. The start-up doesn’t hire any bus or a driver without installing a route tracking device or thorough police verification. “Currently we don’t accept cash and commuters pay through our e-wallets,” adds Singh.
About 80% of Shuttl’s passengers are repeat customers and the start-up totes up an average collection of ₹15,000 daily. The ticket price ranges between ₹20-100 and the buses run five hours on weekdays. “Our target customers are office-goers and peak collection is usually around office timings. It is the biggest segment for us,” explains Singh.
Powered by an initial investment of ₹15 lakh, Shuttl has been a recipient of sustained funding. The angel round brought in ₹90 lakh, the seed round $3 million and Series A raised $20 million. Backed by this funding, Shuttl plans to expand routes within the cities in which it is currently operating. “Route planning is of key importance here. We aim to run buses from IT parks to residential areas. After expanding within the existing cities, we may look at Bengaluru and Mumbai,” concludes Singh.
