tag:priyank.svbtle.com,2014:/feedPriyank Tiwari2014-07-25T19:53:57-07:00Priyank Tiwarihttps://priyank.svbtle.comSvbtle.comtag:priyank.svbtle.com,2014:Post/which-radio-cab-to-prefer2014-07-25T19:53:57-07:002014-07-25T19:53:57-07:00Which radio cab to prefer?<p>Radio cab business is in boom. Investors have been pouring a lot of money into the business and each city has multiple operators taking up the bookings. Pune itself has Genie, Ola, Wings, Easyride, tcabs, etc. The problem is the radio cab providers don’t have fixed fare structure like regular Auto/Taxi. For example, check fare structure for <a href="http://genie.merucabs.com/pricing/">Genie in Pune</a> and <a href="http://www.wingsradiocabs.com/taxi-service-radio-cab.html">Wings in Pune</a>. The day and night timings are different. Minimum KM & charges are different. Night charges are different. If we analyze other fare structure for other radio cab providers, it gets more complex.</p>
<p>Now the question is for any given journey (From location, To location, Date, Time, number of passengers), which radio cab would be most cost effective? For example, the cost for a journey at 5 am for 10 km in Pune. </p>
<ul>
<li>with Genie would be Rs. 180/- (Day starts from 5 am)</li>
<li>with Wings, would be Rs. 257.5/- (Day starts from 6 am)</li>
<li>with Ola, would be Rs. 164/- (no night charges)</li>
</ul>
<p>The reliability of service is always a question, but that problem is common to all cab providers. The solution I envision is a mobile app where you enter your journey details and the app calculates the approximate fare for each radio cab operator. A single tap will connect you to corresponding operator’s call center for booking. </p>
tag:priyank.svbtle.com,2014:Post/crowd-sourced-monitoring-of-public-development-work2014-07-25T00:57:25-07:002014-07-25T00:57:25-07:00Crowd sourced monitoring of public development work<p>This idea always lingered in my mind. Let me know if anyone is interested OR can add to the idea OR simply brainstorm.</p>
<p>These days the result of most of the government tenders is available online. For example, check this link for tenders issued by Maharashtra government - </p>
<p><a href="https://pwd.maharashtra.etenders.in/common/home.asp">https://pwd.maharashtra.etenders.in/common/home.asp</a></p>
<p>You can see that there are lots of road development tenders that have been granted. Since the tender is granted, we know that particular road should be developed within specific time and price. We also know that many development work simply exist on paper or poorly executed and delayed.</p>
<p>Can we parse the data and develop technology which would allow us to crowd source the monitoring of the development work? People staying nearby can post images of work that has been done against particular project and discuss about it. We can start with road tenders in Pune city and later expand to other development works/cities. This would help bring some transparency into the development work undertaken by the taxpayers money. Freedom from corruption?</p>