Journey Friendly App
Are you eager to know who will be your co-passenger on your next train journey?
Or, Are you worried because your loved one is travelling alone?
In such cases, or when you need a different berth or find someone beforehand who is ready to swap, a journey friendly app is exactly what you need.Mayank Gupta, a MBA from University of Hong Kong with an IBEP at the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business has developed the perfect journey partner.
TPal is a small initiative by a group of five engineers who have designed this app to make train journeys smoother. Out of the five, three team members of the teamwill handle the technical department and the other two will handle operations and marketing.
Logo & Chat Screen
One World News interacted with Mayank Gupta, founder and CEO of TPal, who is looking after the business, marketing, public relations and finances for the mobile application.
• Tell us something about the app.
TPal connects train travelers in India before the journey. Staying connected with your co-passengers before and throughout the journey has several advantages. For example:
If you are travelling with an elderly who cannot climb the upperbirth, then you can request your co-passengers before the journey for a birth swap and be relaxed.
You can also find out if any of your college, school or social networking friends is on the same train. In that case, one can filter through the co-passenger list and find out. Besides, if one needs something urgent during the journey, one can just broadcast the need in the train app and ask from those who can connect.
So, if you are curious to know who your co-passengers will be, you can just register with TPaland all the passengers who have registered and are traveling in the same train will appear in your TPal list.
• What is your motive and future plans?
Our aim is to make every journey memorable and we promise to bring a smile to every train traveler in India.
We will be integrating food and cab services very soon. Passengers can order food and book cabs through the app.
Mayank Gupta, Founder of the app
• How did the idea to make such an app strike to you?
The idea came to me on a train trip from Pune to Delhi. It was a long journey and the train was delayed. Most of the co-passengers were bored. Some had a laptop but no movies. Some wanted to read a book. Few wanted to interact but were bad at ice-breaking.And, then there was this mother who was running out of diapers for her baby and hence was worried.
It was then that the idea came to my mind. I later on discussed it with my friends and got a positive response. We decided to develop it.
• When is it launching in the market?
The application is ready and undergoing beta testing. We plan to launch it in the third week of October. One can download it directly from Google play store. As of now,TPal is supported only for android smart phones.
• How does it function?
At times, passengers (especially girls) have the fear of insecurity while registering for such applications. But this application allows people to register one-time and only through Facebook which aims to minimize fake users. Also, app entry is only through a valid train ticket with a PNR number. This almost eliminates fake users.
PNR Entry & Broadcasting
• How can a traveler make use of it in his journey?
Once a traveler books a train ticket, he can register on TPal using the PNR number. For every PNR, there will be a journey created for the passenger. One Passenger can see the list of other passengers who have registered on TPal and are traveling on the same train. Three views are provided:
Compartment View
Bogie View
Train View
Travelers can start interacting with fellow passengers.During the journey, a passenger can capture memories by clicking photographs which will be converted into a movie and shared on FB on approval.Passengers can also save details of the co-passengers with whom they want to keep in touch. Rest of the list will be deleted once the journey ends.
• Have you made any other app before?
Yes, we have developed a few apps before but have not commercialized any of them.
• According to you, how successful will this app be?
Our target is to have at least 10 million passengers registering and using the app by December 2016.
• Will it be for India only or abroad also?
We are starting with trains in India. However, we will gradually expand to flights and buses in the next one year. We also have plans to go international in the next three years.
