Odd-even: Mr Kejriwal, your Poochh-O app is a big failure

New Delhi: The Poochh-O application launched by the Delhi government last month to hire auto-rickshaws in the city is a big failure. Most users complain that either contact numbers of drivers provided are incorrect or their repeated calls go unanswered.[caption id=“attachment_2514998” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  App failure? Reuters[/caption] “This app is not proving to be of any help as in most cases the contact numbers of the auto drivers provided were found to be incorrect or they do not respond the calls,” Mansi Sharma told Firstpost at Rajiv Chowk metro station. “I called up on a number I was provided by the app in the area where I live. But the recipient was not an auto driver. He was a doctor based in somewhere in South Delhi,” she complained. Launched by Lt Governor Najeeb Jung, the Pooch-O app developed by Delhi Integrated Multi-Model Transit System (DIMTS) allows people to locate autos and taxis — fitted with GPS — nearest to them and then call the drivers — whose numbers are registered with DIMTS — on their mobile phones to book a ride. Earlier launched in July, it was re-launched in December last year to provide relief to many in the national capital, especially women who commute via rickshaws at night. The user reviews on Google Play Store from where the application can also be downloaded is not very positive. Only 10,000 people have so far downloaded the application on their android phones and 1,279, till filing this report, have given it four stars. Firstpost also tried to contact few drivers whose numbers were accessed through the app. Of the six numbers, one was not reachable, four did not pick up the call and the recipient of the last call said he is not in the area from where the call was being made. Users suggested that before launching the app, DIMTS should have verified drivers’ numbers registered with them. “I called up the number of an auto driver which was provided to me by the app and asked if he would go to RK Puram. The person who picked up the phone said he was not an auto driver and disconnected the call,” says Pervez Yusuf, a resident of Shaheen Bagh in Okhla. There are 24,000 autos in Delhi which are fitted with GPS and DIMTS hopes that more autos will come under GPS so that a large number of people can be benefited with this app. DIMTS admit that their data base is not updated and therefore, people are facing this inconvenience. “We are updating the data, including drivers’ numbers. Soon, the problem will be sorted out and the users will not have to face difficulties,” said a DIMTS official. Several calls and text messages to Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai went unanswered.