sRide Carpool App CEO
You might be wondering..what is WRI? Let’s clear it up for you – WRI is a global research organization that spans more than 60 countries. They work with leaders in business, government, and civil society to expand clean energy development, combat climate change, and develop sustainable transport solutions.
In their recent efforts, they ran a program around Women Entrepreneurship and Women Safety in Mobility, with a goal to create a holistic and sustainable mobility ecosystem for increased, integrated and seamless mobility options for women commuters. This is an area sRide has always been keen about, and when the opportunity presented itself, we were happy to participate in this noble initiative to help women. With this partnership in play, we are determined to go beyond just creating a safe space for women commuters in the city – we aim to also scale up and standardise the quality of service that they should expect from transport solutions.
sRide, a peer to peer carpooling platform that connects people driving to work and those interested in riding along, was co-founded by Lakshna Jha, a visionary with over 20 years of rich experience in technology and sales. She is deeply passionate about working on the future of transportation and commute / ridesharing – and that’s how the sRide journey began almost 4 years ago.
Growing rapidly over the last year, sRide has proven to be a favourite among women commuters, attracting 350,000+ ladies (55% of total riders). Since the very beginning, our platform has focused on and been successful in making daily travel safe, convenient and cost-effective for women across cities. Users can find a carpooling match from our huge network of verified corporate users and have the freedom to choose who they wish to carpool with. Travelling to & from work with a colleague or neighbour is far more safe and reliable than commuting via crowded public transport with random people. We’re also delighted to have equipped women with more confidence about travelling back from work in the wee hours.
In short, sRide is a platform created by a woman for the women of new India empowering them to be anywhere, at any time.
Besides creating a progressive platform to help women move about freely & fearlessly wherever they choose, it’s interesting to note that sRide creates this environment at ZERO cost to the cities, government and individuals. Plus, all of this is achieved without adding a single vehicle on the road! Our prime focus remains on safety features where only corporate verified users can register and every ride has to be verified by both sides, creating a strong feedback system. In the worst case scenario, if a ride takes a bad turn, the SOS button will help alert your emergency contact.
In a country where average ownership of 4-wheelers by women has been statistically low, sRide has made it easier for women take that step and own a car by enabling the option to share costs (petrol, EMI, etc). Today there are large groups of women who carpool together daily and we’re happy to have sparked a huge domino effect leading to an environment where women can create a long-term life-altering environment for other women, the way Lakshna did.