Zophop is a public transit mobile product that aims to make daily commuting easier. Targeted at the crores of people who use the bus and train to travel to work or college and continuously worry about when their bus will arrive, how long the ticket queue will be or whether they will get change back when buying a ticket.
Zophop partners with transport providers of buses, trains, autos and cabs to provide real time information on arrival times or ETA by using data from GPS installed on buses to show users exactly where their bus is and how much time it will take to reach their stop. The application also allows people to discover best routes, timings and fares across bus, train, metro, cab etc. Zophop is now working with public bus and train agencies across India to also allow commuters to purchase a ticket directly on their phone.
Zophop believes it can reduce the total travel time of commuters by 15-20 minutes everyday by giving them access to this powerful real-time information and transaction features. Giving people more time to do what they enjoy rather than waiting outside in the heat!
Founded in 2014, co-founders, VinayakBhavnani and Nikhil Aggarwal are using the latest technology to make transportation smarter and more convenient for everyone. With their focus on transit, they have included several unique features such as live trip sharing for safety, off-line mode, audio alerts for next stop, multiple languages, SOS button etc.
The Zophop mobile app is available on the Google Playstore and provides information for 15 cities in India. Real-time tracking for 5,000+ buses operated by BEST, CSTC, NNMT, TMT etc is available for Mumbai, Kolkata and Nagpur.
The startup has associated with around 10 transport providers in cities such as Mumbai, Kolkata, Nagpur and Indore to offer either real-time information or mobile ticketing. It has also partnered with private transportation companies Jugnoo, Uber, Prasanna Purple and Bhagirathi Travels to allow users to search for and choose their services as alternative transit options. Zophop currently have 50,000+ monthly active users.
Zophop has installed GPS in 1,000+ buses and deployed dynamic scheduling tools so that it can generate real-time information. As a sector, public transit has limited or unused technology infrastructure and Zophop has taken a lead in deploying this infrastructure to power the consumer proposition.
The company had raised angel funding from leading technology entrepreneurs and investors such as Anupam Mittal (Founder, Shaadi.com), Satyan Gajwani (MD, Times Internet) and Amit Singhal (Previously SVP, Google).
Going forward, Zophop is planning to bring 1 lakh live buses for ETA or ticketing on its platform in the next two to three years, as well as provide users with options to choose and combine these buses with other modes of transportation.The team envisages Zophop as a public transit assistant to every Indian. Zophop plans to create a seamless payment experience across modes in the same way that exists in other countries through smart cards. In the future, it also plans to leapfrog smart cards and enable payment via mobile phones.
