How startups in APAC are tackling the last mile in-destination

For many commuters or travellers, Google Maps is the first stop when it comes to planning travel routes; it automatically crunches the time it would take for various transportation types, as well as the costs if you are booking rides from some of the more popular ride-hailing apps.

Yet, there is a gap in the market; and Google, surprisingly enough, does not have all the answers – especially when it comes to helping travellers with their ‘last-mile’ in-destination. “Google wants to suck all these transportation companies into their map, but so far, they have got only five or six [such as Grab, Lyft and Uber], they haven’t got it all,” said Rod Bishop, CEO of Australia-based startup Jayride.

Furthermore, Google does not provide transportation booking services itself.

Bishop spoke at a panel discussion about moving transportation online at the WIT Innovation Stage this week as part of WiT Singapore 2019. He was joined by Panhavuth Heng, Chief Commercial Officer of Cambodia-based startup BookMeBus, with Bobby Healy, Founder & CEO of Ireland-based startup Manna.aero, moderating the panel.

Bishop’s startup focuses on price comparisons for airport transfers across 81 countries, covering over 1,500 airports, so travellers no longer have to scramble around multiple airport transfer service booths to find out who gives the best deal (or get haggled by other external operators outside the airport, for that matter).

He gave a rather humorous anecdote to emphasise his startup’s USP (unique selling point) that also acted as a great metaphor for the pain points surrounding last transportation mile for travellers. “A lady in L.A. was in front of me and she was downloading every ride-hailing app, and when I asked her what she was doing, she said ‘I’m going to…find out which one’s cheapest, and then that’s the one I’m going to use.’”  It highlighted the niche gap that the travel industry has to step up and tackle.

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Healy posited that bigger OTA companies could outspend and out-strategise the smaller startups on this front (imagine if TripAdvisor integrated a similar airport transfer feature within their platform instead of having its users crowdsource answers on its platform).

Heng, whose startup, BookMeBus, provides online digital management systems for bus operators in Cambodia and surrounding markets, is not fazed. His focus, he said, is about building a full-fledged ecosystem for transport companies, including content, online payment and invoicing, and ads. This enables the transport operators to upscale their offerings and provides a full-fledged service to travellers.

For example, a customer can use BookMeBus to arrange for airport transfers to hotels as well as ground or ferry transport to places of interest all on one single transport platform.

These startups, however, still face threats from ride-hailing unicorns like Grab and Uber, which provide not only transport but also food delivery, among other services. For example, some travellers will stick to just one provider because it caters to all their needs. To that point, Healy asked the panellists whether their startups would consider broadening their product base, or if they are satisfied with just focusing on a single vertical.

Bishop said that the key thing is identifying what the traveller wants. If a person books an airport transfer, do they necessarily need food delivery? Probably not. The key point is providing the right value to the customer, which in Bishop’s case, is getting right airport transfer for their needs at a good price point.

It’s a difficult case to fight for sure. At the end of the day, with enough commitment and capital, large corporations like Google could very easily launch a far superior transport booking platform for travellers, eroding the USP of smaller players.

But if there’s one element that is not easy to compete with, it is localisation – the secret sauce of any startup’s winning game.

“We work closely with the ground operators… we speak the local language and culture. Cambodian people are very skeptical… trust is a huge factor,” said Heng.

“It’s about customer service that provides the extra mile so you are no longer anxious about travelling,” said Bishop It’s not just about transportation but fundamentally rethinking what it means to provide a quality travel service.

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This article was first published on WiT.

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Image Credit: WiT

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