roadhop_transport search beyond flights
Transcript of roadhop_transport search beyond flights
“transport search beyond flights”
http://roadhop.com
1. Executive summary 2. Opportunity 3. Proposed solution 4. Status
5. Development timeline 6. Competition 7. Investment required 8. Team
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Roadhop is the “airbnb” of non-flight passenger transport.
Executive Summary • Roadhop.com is a website to help travellers search and purchase
intercity non-flight (e.g. bus, train, ferry, speedboat) transport options • Users can:
§ Compare departure timings, fares, location maps from various transport operators
§ Share with others how they have travelled § View travel methods and reviews by other users § Buy tickets online
• Mission: To reduce search and booking time for travellers looking for non-flight transportation options around the world
• Vision: To provide real-time data for all transportation around the world
Opportunity
• Non-flight travel suffers from poor data § Little information (e.g. Southeast Asia, Latin America,
Eastern Europe) or § Unconsolidated information online, with schedules, fares
and station maps in separate websites and guidebooks
1. UIC - International Union of Railways, 2010 2. U.S. Department of Transportation 3. China Ministry of Transport, 2011
Opportunity
• But they are overlooked as major forms of long-distance travel
• Buses and trains are the only modes of travel for some developing regions
§ Over 40 billion railway passengers yearly, metro not included1
§ US: travellers spend over 1 billion dollars annually on intercity buses2
§ China: 2.4 million intercity bus trips daily3
Proposed Solution Crowdsourcing from travellers • Contribute in a fun way by
creating their personal trip log using Facebook and mobile
• Verify search results by voting, commenting and reviewing
Companies list and sell tickets • List prices and departure timings on
Roadhop • Reach out to passengers on their
company page • Sell tickets using Roadhop’s
Ecommerce platform
Administrators gather and index information • Digitize primary data • Assemble schedules and fares railways, bus (and other)
companies with limited web presence
Why will any transport operator want to sell tickets online?
Because passengers want to buy them.
We provide travellers with a non-flight transport search.
Once travellers see their departure timing available on
Roadhop, they will want to book them
(before others do).
Status
We gather data (and travellers).
Crowdsourcing from travellers • Contribute in a
fun way by creating their personal trip log using Facebook and mobile
Back to menu
Crowdsourcing from travellers • Verify search results by
voting, commenting and reviewing
• Search includes administrator uploaded routes
Back to menu
Plan
Then we create a ticketing platform for bus, train, ferry (etc.) companies.
Development Timeline Functionalities
R Crowdsourced pla6orm to collect schedules/fares of travellers using travel records on Facebook R Search with vo=ng and commen=ng
R System for transport operators to list and manage routes
R Mobile trip tracker R Ecommerce
R Connec=ng routes search (Near Future, when data is up) R Mobile search with real-‐=me loca=on data (Far future)
Completed
In development
Planned
Current Oct 2011 Apr 2012 – Aug 2012 Future
Development Timeline Marketing and data
R Partner with notable travel bloggers, newspapers, magazines, hostels R Compe==on for most routes logged R Seek sponsorship from tourism boards / airlines for free flight =ckets
R Contact small tranport operators to list
R Index all train routes in the world + routes from major bus operators R Progress will depend on funding raised
In development
Planned
Competition • Rome2rio.com • SilverRail Technologies • Google, Yahoo!, Bing Travel / Maps: Directions search feature
which contains information on shorter distance public transportation for some cities
• Travel guides like Lonelyplanet, Roughguide, Tripadvisor and Wikitravel
• Local operators to learn from § Red bus (India) § Qunar (China)
Why do we need the money? What are we going to do with it?*
• $200K to build and sell – ecommerce platform (airbnb for passenger tickets)
• To hire programmers, customer service, accounting, sales, legal • Merchant account
• $150K to develop new functionalities – Mobile ticketing, Mobile route tracking / logging, Real time data,
Connecting search algorithm, Integration for mobile, social and web
• $100K to collect data – Digitize bus, train, ferry, van, speedboat (etc.) schedules, prices, maps
not online (worldwide)
• $50K for servers, equipment, maintenance, operations
Our ecommerce platform (beta) will be ready by April 2012
*Will be explained in more details on our financial Projec=ons
How can we make money?*
• Subscription: A membership fee for transport companies to list
• Ecommerce: A small transaction fee for each passenger ticket sold
• Licensing: A fee for operators which require customization (e.g. html redirect, fleet / route management / multiple logins)
• API
*Will be explained in more details on our financial Projec=ons
The possibilities are endless.
Exit strategy
• IPO on Asian Stock Exchange – SGX, Nikkei, Hang Seng, Shanghai
Team • Roadhop is started by Wyn and Kel
§ Both graduated from Singapore Management University (but not at the same time)
• Wyn: § Loves to program and travel § Majored in quantitative finance and economics § Proficient in Ruby and/on Rails, secretly likes Python, and vaguely remembers some C+
+, Matlab, and R
• Kel: § Loves to travel and does not program § Spent 3.5 years in Toshiba analysing procurement operations in Asia § Spent 1 year in China with Lorenzo International, working to design and implement
the factory’s supply chain system
• Both are avid backpackers § Favourite song: Discovery channel – the world is awesome (link J)
I will be in San Francisco for Founder Showcase from 7 Nov 2011 to 23 Nov 2011. See you there! Or call me
Kel: 65 9863 2957