Omitra – Your train travel buddy

“Last year I was travelling all alone from Bhilwara, Rajasthan to Hyderabad in a train. It was a 30+ hours harrowing journey, and I got damn bored and frustrated during the journey. Another time, my wife and a friend’s wife were travelling in the same train but separate coach for 30 hrs and dint know that they were on the same train until the journey completed.  And every time I travel alone and get down at the station, I always wish I could find someone who is going towards Gachibowali area so that we can share a ride and my taxi fare can be HALF.” – Vikas Jagetiya

All these incidents plus the fear of falling asleep and missing getting down at a station made Vikas and SriHari to pioneer an amazing startup app called OMitra. OMitra is an app that allows passengers to socially connect with people travelling on the same train. In short, it is like a whatsapp group connecting different passengers in the train. One can use the app to facilitate seat exchange, share taxis when arriving at the same station, find friends who are travelling on the same train,  allows you to send out pickup SMS to your family members. and even gives you a wakeup alarm by ringing an alarm before 30 km of your set destination.

OMitra is on a mission to change the train experience by providing solutions to the common train journey problems using the concept of social networking and technology.

The app went live in August 2015. Over 500+  travellers use this app daily and an average of 50+ train travelers use this app every day to interact with their  co – passengers. The passenger phone numbers and seat numbers are not shared openly. Every yatri needs to provide a PNR number so only legitimate users are on the group.  For the convenience of the passengers, all important railway information is made available on the app so one can reach to the right railway authority for security, cleanliness or food complaints.

Vikas  had worked with Qualcomm and HCL before starting up and  holds 5 patent rights for all his contribution previously before pioneering this app.  The other founder Sri Hari, whose father worked as a head of TTE in Vijaywada, was always fascinated by railways and their work. Hari comes with over 14+ years of corporate experience in sales, marketing, and revenue and customer Support.

OMitra Features –

• Automatic Wakeup Alarm – 30 KM before destination, adjusted according to train delay
• Pickup Reminder – Automatically sends SMS 30 Kms before, to your relative who is planning to pick you up at station
• Automatic Live updates – Get train updates every 15 minutes, so anyone can easily track train progress, delays etc
• Automatic PNR Alerts – Waitlist tickets notify whenever there are updations
• Train Route available offline
• Family tracking – with a single tap, family member can share and track their journey
• Railway contacts – important railway contacts available in the app for security, query, and complaints
• Platform No. notification – around 2 hours before, sends an automated SMS/Notification of platform (available only for South Central Zone stations presently)
• OLA taxi booking directly from OMitra App
• Food booking across India 2000 + food option, 500+ restaurant, 250 city, very simple to order
• Food Menu offline – Now as per PNR, food menu from boarding point to your travelling destination is available offline and can be ordered via SMS during trip
• Transparent food review system – every food ordered review by user available to other users to see it

To provide fresh delicious food on the go, OMitra has tied up with food joints like TravelKhanna, TrainMeals, RailRestro, TravelerFood, FoodExpress, and KhanaGadi.

All thanks to OMitra, now the dreadful long boring journeys of train are over. Have a journey booked? Go to your playstore, and download this train buddy today.

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