No more fraud auto fares: Thanks to Latlong | SiliconIndia News

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Mohan

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Nov 13, 2009, 4:25:58 AM11/13/09
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People! Don't know if you've heard about this already, but if not, read on!

No more fraud auto fares: Thanks to Latlong

Bangalore: In a city like Bangalore several commuters depend on the autorickshaws to travel from one place to another, but not always do they get to pay the correct fare as sometimes they are demanded extra money by the drivers. Now with a technology developed by Onze Technologies,a location based services firm, a commuter can verify the fares demanded by the drivers with an automatic SMS telling what they should be paying for the distance traveled. The company is led by four former Infosys engineers - Sudarshan H.S., Pavaman Athani, Sairam Rajamani and Rahul R.S. 



Using this service called 'Latlong' people can text message the area from which they start their journey with their destination, to receive an instant message on the fare they must pay, reports Deccan Chronicle. "Latlong provides information on the approximate autorickshaw fare and the distance in kilometers. This allows the user to check the exact distance travelled and confirm if the meter reading is accurate. The service has been a hit. We have received nearly 50,000 SMSes so far," says Sudarshan, CEO of Onze, the firm which has come out with the concept.

So successful has been the service that the Onze is now looking at launching Latlong in other cities as well. "We will be launching the service in Chennai soon," says Sudarshan. For using this service the commuters need to send their message to 9008890088.

The company who was a part of Siliconindia Bangalore StartupCity, won the best mobile startup award. 






Varun V Nair

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Nov 13, 2009, 4:57:52 AM11/13/09
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But isn't such a service beside the point? I mean technologically it might seem cool but does it practically have a use other than the novelty factor. Even technologically it is not a biggie - my GPS-enabled Nokia E75 with Google Maps does what this services does plus it shows me where I am in near real-time.

There are 2 ways auto-rickshaw users pay more than they are supposed to. First is when the auto-waala flat out refuses to use the meter and instead charges a pre-negotiated rate. Second is when the meter is being used but the auto-waala deliberately takes your through an unnecessarily longer route.

The LatLong service will not prevent scenario 1 above. The only way this scenario can be prevented is through a concerted effort by the police to penalize auto-waalas whose meters are not down but still carrying a passenger and by passengers simply refusing to board rickshaws that do not use the meter.

LatLong service might help with scenario 2 because you at least have a benchmark to compare the actual fare against. If the fare comes out to be much higher you can protest. But let's think this through - unless you are the vociferous type with lot of energy and time at that point of time you are not really going to tell that auto-waala that his meter is wrong and your SMS is right, are you?

For me the moment I have to argue with the auto-waala it is a nuisance. I have lived in Mumbai for more than 2 years and that is one of the things I loved about the city. An overwhelming number of the auto-waalas are the no-nonsense types. You get in, the meter is down, you reach your destination and you pay the exact fare - the local police, the passengers and the general culture of the city keep the auto-waalas honest and much more efficient than all other cities I have seen (Ahmedabad, Delhi, Pune, Bangalore, Trivandrum, Chennai).

Since we are on this topic I wanted to highlight that a GPS-enabled handset might seem like a frill at least in India but for me it is proving to me immensely useful. I bought my handset about 6 months ago and knew that it had GPS but did not think I would be using it at all. I am new to Bangalore so whenever I have to take an auto I check out the route and distance on my handset and that allows me to either negotiate a relatively correct rate beforehand (Rs. 7 per KM) or make sure the auto-waala is not taking me for a ride in the metaphorical sense.

Happy weekend everybody!

Regards,
Varun V Nair

http://varun.net.in/blog/


2009/11/13 Mohan <cool...@gmail.com>
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Mohan

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Nov 14, 2009, 6:52:17 PM11/14/09
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True, but better informed than nothing...

2009/11/13 Varun V Nair <varun...@gmail.com>
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