Pune’s autorickshaws are a test of one’s patience; they’ll not adhere to the meter and they’ll demand two- to three-times the fare. “Return passengers aren’t available usually,” says Vishwanath Salgar, an autorickshaw driver, which explains the tendency to resort to such tactics.

“Changing mindsets is important,” confesses Janardan Prasad, COO of Autowale. He should know best. After all, he, Mukesh Jha, CEO, and their team of 20 have been working on fixing the problem of undependable public transport in Pune since 2011.

Both founders are graduates from IIT-Kanpur. “We chose to work with a problem common across the country. Bringing in technologies from mature economies and force-fitting them in the Indian scenario made no sense,” Jha says. Pune was an obvious choice given its high density of autos. Also, the mix of students, young IT professionals and a sizeable senior citizen base makes autos a heavily demandable resource.

Auto start Autowale operates on building the basic human premise of self-respect emanating from financial security and social recognition. Salgar, with Autowale since 2011, speaks fondly of the financial and social improvement he’s made after signing up with the aggregator.

Deepak Barde, who’s been around over 3 years, owns two autos. Recently, he invested in property; he rode rented autos before becoming a part of Autowale. “I have monthly targets, but I usually exceed them within 20-22 days. There’s freedom to work my way,” he says.

Three packages Drivers can choose from three packages – Trial, Regular and Premium. Once inked, the driver gets a target. Of the total revenue made, he needs to accord a percentage to the company. Roughly, the Trial programme works with 10 per cent commission, Regular with 12 per cent and Premium with nearly 14-15 per cent. The commissions are agreeable to drivers as they receive a steady stream of customers, and thus, a stable daily income.

To illustrate, a non-Autowale driver’s average monthly earning is ₹9,000-12,000; all things being equal, an Autowale partner earns ₹15,000-20,000.

For the relatively technologically challenged drivers, knowledge of basic mobile telephony is enough. “Orders flow through the website, app, and the call centre. We send SMS notifications to our fleet,” says the CEO. This is the aspect that makes Autowale different from the rest of its peers such as Ola and Uber.

Route to growth Working with over 1,000 drivers, Autowale has facilitated almost six lakh rides till date. It started with 20-30 calls per day; now, it fields a few thousand customer requests daily. The analytical team builds predictive algorithms, which enable the reconciliation of supply and demand. The call centre is outsourced to a team of 20 people that works round the clock to service customers.

With little funding – the founders didn’t share figures – Autowale managed growing approximately 50 per cent year-on-year. They expect more buoyant growth this fiscal; also in the pipeline is an expansion covering 20 cities by the year-end.

Recently, Jha and Prasad featured in Fast Company’s list of ‘100 Most Creative People in Business’. While the accolades keep building, Autowale’s also witnessing service lapses such as missed deadlines and no-shows, veiled charges linked to waiting and baggage, and stray incidents of driver misdemeanour. A lot of the founders’ time is spent in imparting soft skills and sharing life hacks with drivers, who’re generally unaware of the importance of professional etiquette and relationship building with clients.

At Autowale, there’s an understanding of what motivates auto drivers to improve their game. Lots of drivers have bought vehicles and homes, afforded education for their children, and gotten their wards married off. When a company offers the promise of progress, there’s no reason why the next time round you’re waiting for public transport, you won’t get a smiling auto driver eager to take you to your destination.

(The author is a Mumbai-based freelance writer.)

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