Is Zoomcar the next best alternative to ride hailing?

Everyone knows how ride-hailing works. They book a ride through an app to get them from one location to another. Today, ride-hailing has taken over public transportation in some parts of the world simply because of its ability to meet the demand of its passengers.

Yet, there were still some teething problems with ride-hailing. In some countries, the price of ride-hailing services can go beyond normal taxi services. Apart from that, there were also concerns about both the security of passengers using such services and their data as well. In fact, some countries have already implemented regulations on ride-hailing services to ensure passenger safety.

While ride-hailing continues its dominance, car sharing is slowly becoming a new trend for some as well. Compared to ride-hailing, car sharing simply means renting a vehicle and driving it at a more affordable rate. Initially, car sharing was often monopolized by car rental companies but this is now changing thanks to Zoomcar, a car sharing marketplace.

In countries like Malaysia, there have been similar car rental and subscription services through apps like Socar and GoCar. However, after having success initially, the services soon found themselves competing with each other and ride-hailing apps. Both apps still have a significant presence in Malaysia, but it is unlikely they could reach the potential of what Zoomcar offers.

This is because Zoomcar focuses more on car sharing. Zoomcar is the leading marketplace for car sharing in emerging markets, with over 20,000 cars on its technology-driven platform across India, Southeast Asia, and Egypt. Zoomcar empowers host entrepreneurs to safely and easily share their cars to earn additional passive income. Guests in the Zoomcar community enjoy a diverse, affordable selection of cars to unlock memorable driving experiences with friends and family.

Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Bengaluru, India, Zoomcar employs over 300 people and operates in 50 cities across India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Egypt. Uri Levine, the co-founder of mobility unicorns Waze and Moovit, currently serves as Zoomcar’s Chairman of the Board. The car-sharing platform recently announced that guests have driven over 1 billion kilometers in India using Zoomcar.

Bangalore leads the charts with the highest number of bookings, followed by Hyderabad and Mumbai. Zoomcar clocks an average of 60,000 rental transactions on its platform every month, and with travel restrictions now eased, the post-pandemic behavioral change has resulted in families taking more frequent long-weekend trips in bigger cars and with greater flexibility.

In fact, there are now more than 25,000 7-seater SUVs, sedans, hatchbacks, and other cars on the Zoomcar marketplace, offering incredible variety to guests across the country.  What’s more interesting is that an increasing number of women are also using the platform, with the greatest number of bookings from Bangalore, Pune, and Mumbai.

According to Greg Moran, CEO and Co-Founder of Zoomcar, they have been transforming urban mobility across emerging economies over the past nine years.

“We are thrilled to bring innovative, mobility solutions to our guests and our recent milestone of covering over 1 billion kilometers is a testament to our commitment to our hosts and guests. Through the introduction of affordable, shared personal mobility solutions, we aim to address pressing problems of congestion, affordability, and air quality at scale. Now, as we’ve transitioned into a full marketplace business model, we have seen about 7x growth in business volumes compared to last year as we exited Covid-19 growing by leaps and bounds during this period,” said Moran.

Zoomcar empowers host entrepreneurs to safely and easily share their cars to earn additional passive income. Guests in the Zoomcar community enjoy a diverse, affordable selection of cars to unlock memorable driving experiences with friends and family.

While India is Zoomcar’s largest market, it has expanded its operations across Egypt, Vietnam, and Indonesia with plans to launch in another 15-20 markets in 2-3 years, across Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia.

The car-sharing platform expects Indonesia to be the second-largest market for Zoomcar after India. Delly Nughara, Country Head for Indonesia will be responsible for all aspects of growth, and operations, and to build the company’s best achievement in Indonesia.

Given the traffic conditions in most countries Zoomcar operates in, it is interesting to note that demand for its services has been positive.

With prices of some ride-hailing apps skyrocketing during certain periods, car-sharing services could probably just be the next best option for customers. At the end of the day, customers just want to be able to get from point A to B in the most convenient way possible, be it via ride-hailing or car-sharing.

---

---

---

---