What’s the Story?
The story of Kapuddle starts with Mark Jackson and Jamie Vine. They both worked in the same building and lived close to each other. A chance conversation led to deciding it would be cheaper if they car-pooled: They’d only need one parking space, and they’d share the cost of fuel. One of Mark’s colleagues also lived on the route into work and joined the car-pool.
Mark and Jamie mused over an idea that if more people did the same congestion would be radically reduced and everyone would get to work quicker, on top of the cost saving.
They observed that most of the cars on their commute only contained one person, the driver. A little bit of research from ABS uncovered the fact that around 90% of people commuting in cars carry no passengers.
So if more people car-pooled, everyone would get to work quicker and the subsequent reduction in carbon emissions would improve air quality and save lives.
More research suggested it would also reduce the burden on taxpayers to invest in ever increasing infrastructure investment.
They considered the challenge of how people could organise themselves to car-pool and realised that an ‘app’ could do the work for them: The app would need to be easy to use and give users a fair deal.
They built a team of people they knew that are experts in IT, finance and marketing to share the vision.
After doing a little research into the problem of congestion they found that it’s a huge concern globally for, people and businesses, and has a real cost on sustainability.
Facts & Figures
In Australia, 5.13 million people commute to work on a daily basis in the capital cities
More than 90% are one driver with no passengers (3,532,000)
This equates to approx. 7 million trips per day.
In Australia
- Congestion in Sydney is up 3% to 39%. Morning & Evening Peak travel times are 67% & 68% over normal
- Congestion in Melbourne is 33%. Morning & Evening Peak travel times are 55% & 58% over normal
- Congestion in Perth is 27%. Morning & Evening Peak travel times are 42% & 40% over normal
Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics estimates of the ‘avoidable’ social costs of congestion for the 8 Australian capitals total approximately $16.5 billion for the 2015 financial year, having grown from about $12.8 billion for the 2010 financial year.
These traffic delay increases have BITRE base case projections of the avoidable social costs of metropolitan congestion rising to around $30 billion by 2030
Around the Asia Pacific Region, 20 of the world’s top 50 most congested cities are in the APAC region.
There are more details on Traffic Research here.
The Solution
Kapuddle matches drivers with passengers for pre-arranged scheduled journeys – not an on-demand service.
Kapuddle charges passengers using a defined tariff which may not be as cheap as Public Transport, but is likely to be cheaper than driving yourself and parking, and a lot cheaper than getting a Taxi, or Uber etc.
The vision is that State governments endorse and promote car-pooling, incentivising car-poolers by allowing registered drivers to have access to bus lanes when they have a passenger. Further that they may offer car-pooling drivers access to cheaper parking, even a rebate on the annual vehicle license.
The plan is to prove the concept in Perth, but it will work across all Australia at launch.
Kapuddle. car-pooling made easy
Effortless: You schedule your trips, the system matches available drivers and payment is handled automatically. You get picked up and dropped off at the locations that work for you.
Affordable: You only pitch in to cover the cost of the commute. In most cases it will be comparable to Public Transport, and likely to be cheaper than driving yourself and parking, and a lot cheaper than getting a Taxi, or Uber etc
Safe: All drivers are verified.
Your World: Kapuddle supports a more sustainable and environmental way to get to work since you’re driving with someone on a commute they’re taking anyway, with or without you.