Local transportation fares are variable in India, even when there are meters are there, fares are regulated. When you reach a city, specially at the railway stations and bus stands auto drivers, taxi drivers, rickshaw drivers demand what they think they can extract out of you. On metered vehicles also, they tend to take you through a round about route when you do not know the way. This is a big hassle for travelers to the city.
If a small mobile application can tell them rough fare between two points in a city based on the mode of transportation. So if I need to go from railway station to a locality – it can give me a comparative fare for various option – bus / metro / cab / auto or a combination thereof with the approximate fare and time they would take. This can be referred to by the travelers while moving around in a new place. This would also help check unfair fares asked by the transportation providers.
Next stage could be live status of public transportation on the move.
This would need integration with public systems that fix the rates for transportation.
For revenue options, the transportation players can advertise their products and services. A small application download fee can also be charged from the users.
A lot more thought needs to go into it, but this is something that Indian cities need.
