Today I would like to share with you a life-changing application that will really make your life easier. You know living in the city the one thing that everyone hates is TRAFFIC JAM. Getting stuck in a congestion not only ruins your day but also causes you to lose money in terms of your petrol cost. Staying in KL or Selangor you can never avoid traffic jams unless well... you plan to travel in the wee hours in the morning or late at night which is rather dangerous especially for girls.
And of course even after getting through the jam, how many of you have encountered facing full parking lots in shopping malls which you again waste time going round and round searching for a spot to park. I personally hate two things when it comes to driving which is
1. Traffic Jam
2. Searching for Parking Space
Unfortunately for us, the public transportation is not that convenient like for me I only have one public bus coming into my housing area and it takes like 30 minutes for each interval. If I were to go to Mid Valley for example I would have to take a bus from my housing area out to the main road to change another bus to go to Mid Valley. I always had to allocate more than one hour if I were to take the public transport.
BUT! There have been plenty of taxi applications popping up around that promotes easier transportation problems but let's face it. Do you think this will actually solve the real problem of the congestion in the city? The main reason for congestion is that Malaysians don't really practice carpooling. How many times have you seen that there is only one or two person in each car. Imagine this... if 1000 people were to drive their own separate cars to a similar destination for example Mid Valley you will see 1000 cars on the road. But if we started carpooling, just do the math! Those 1000 cars will be cut down to just roughly 250 cars. Can you imagine how much fuel will we be saving PLUS how much reduction of air pollution will there be?
Today I would like to introduce Tripda, an online carpooling platform that connects frivers commuting with empty seats in their cars and passengers heading the same way. Their vision is to transform carpooling into a viable transportation alternative, so both driver and passenger can share the cost of the trip, while meeting new people, reducing traffic and preserving the environment.
While Tripda may still be a new concept in Malaysia, it is actually quite popular overseas where people are open and practice the concept of carpooling. And it is just so simple to use Tripda! Not only you will be able to save the hassle of driving to your destination and avoid all the parking hassle, you will also be able to meet new friends along the way.
I know what most of you will be thinking. What is Tripda and how does it work and most importantly is it safe? Safety is a major concern for everyone including me especially for all the ladies out there. I mean who knows we may get like a serial killer as our driver. But if you think about it clearly, I mean how much can you trust the taxi driver that drives you either?
With Tripda, they have thought about the safety of the passengers and also it is very important that we feel safe and comfortable when using this platform. Every driver and passenger has to be registered with Tripda using their Facebook account and their mobile number. As you all know in Malaysia, all mobile phone numbers are registered with the government so it is easier to track down each number. Besides that, you will be able to see how many friends does the driver/passenger has before accepting to share a ride together. If you don't feel comfortable just don't select that ride.
Now the next worry, what if the driver/passenger stalk you using your Facebook account? Well, not to worry because Tripda has thought about this matter as well. Unless you have approved to share a ride with the person you won't be able to see the full name of the driver/passenger which means you won't be able search that person online. You will just see for example my name Miriam H.
So enough of all this talk and babble about how beneficial Tripda is and let me give you merry goers a look on how does this online platform work. Firstly you need to register your account with Tripda and you can select your preference like for example if you are sociable, or if you allow smoking, eating, pets and etc. This is if you are interested to offer a ride as a driver. You can also list your car that you will be using to offer a ride.
So after authenticating your account using mobile number, Facebook and email you can now either start offering a ride or even searching for a ride. Here's how you can offer a ride.
Part 1: Firstly just list your ride which includes your origin point to your final destination. You will be able to see your ride route by the map displayed on the right side of the screen.
Just select your departure date and time and if it is a one way or round trip journey,
Part 2: So after listing the details of your ride you can also select if you are ok with making detours or stopping along the way. Then you can select the price you would like to charge per passenger.
Reminder: Tripda is a non-profit transportation platform which encourages carpooling. It is not the same as a taxi because you are just sharing the cost of the ride and not earning from it.
The colour of the price will change from GREEN to YELLOW to RED depending on how high you set your price. This will allow the passenger to note if your price is on a higher range.
You can also select which car you will be using to offer the ride and how many passengers are you willing to accept.
You can also include other details like your meeting points, why are you travelling, or any information you would like your passengers to know. You can also include the luggage size that you allow each passenger to bring for instance if you are off to the airport you would like to allocate a certain amount of space for each passenger.
For Ladies out there here is another safety feature in Tripda where you can choose to offer a Ladies Only ride which means NO MEN ALLOWED. Only ladies will be allowed to select your ride.
And there you have it. You can publish your ride and share it on Facebook as well to get passengers. This is a useful option for example if you are off for an outing with your friends you can share this ride on Facebook for them to select and choose your ride to carpool with you. You can have the company of friends and also share out the cost of the ride.
If someone is interested with your ride they can leave messages to you on your ride for example a passenger was interested to join my ride and was wondering if I would be able to make a stop along my route. He/She will leave a message like a Whatsapp messenger and we can further discuss then.
So what about if you are looking for a ride? It is real simple.
Part 1: Just type in your origin location and your destination in the search bar and a list of rides will be shown.
For example, you can see the ride that I offered earlier is listed in the list of rides available. You can scroll through the list until you find a suitable ride. This is where Tripda is different and safe. You are able to see WHO your driver is and WHERE your driver is heading and WHAT are your driver's preference. You can also see HOW much the driver is charging per passenger. Real neat right!
So if you are interested with a ride you can select that ride and you will be able to see more details about that ride and how many seats are available. You can also private message the driver if you have any inquiries.
And there you have it! A simple and convenient way of travelling using Tripda. You will be able to both benefit as a driver and passenger since you will be sharing the cost of the ride, you can meet new friends, reduce the number of cars on the road and also save the environment.
Tripda is also available on Android and Apple stores so that you can now offer and find a ride with just a click on your smartphone. Check out the cool video introducing Tripda.
HOLD ON THERE!
Tripda is now having a promotion this Chinese New Year. You know now everyone is arranging their transport to go back hometown and why not use this way to start carpooling? No more lonely drive all the way back to your hometown when you can now offer your ride and have a companion on the way.
This February, win FREE XiaoMi smartphones, Petrol cash cards and TGV Movie Packages when using Tripda.
So don't wait any longer. Try out Tripda today and plan your trips and have fun!
.jpg)
