3 friends start an app to streamline water tanker services

Summer is the time for water shortages in the city, and tankme hopes to be able to counter this by expanding across the city by this time

In March of last year, when Fahad Javeed attempted to call for a water tanker, he was faced with several technical and logistical issues. When he raised the topic with his friends Arun Anderson and Kaushik Mohan on a long drive along the ECR, they decided to do something about the issue for other Chennaiites. Thus, in June, they founded ‘tankme’, a start-up mobile application that connects users to water tankers near them.

In Javeed’s own words, the app work similar to the ride-sharing app Uber or Ola, where users can call for a specific carry load tanker from their homes, and be connected to the driver for the delivery. Currently, the app is working with 20 private water tankers and operates in over 70 areas in the city including Mylapore, Egmore, Kilpauk, Nungambakkam, Royapettah, Ambattur, Guindy and Saligramam.

“We launched the app officially in January 20, but the app has been operational since August of last year. Over the last few months, we have been working on technical issues of the app, and as of now, we have around 50 users across the city,” said Javeed.

Aside from streamlining the process, the app hopes to reduce the cost for consumers, said Anderson. “Around 60-80 per cent of the cost on the user’s end comes from covering transportation. The reason for this is because sometimes the borewell or the source would be 30-40 km from the drop off point, and that burden the consumer has to face. One of the ways to counteract this is that we have an algorithm that connects users to the closest tanker to them, so that the price is drastically decreased,” said Anderson.

Summer is the time for water shortages in the city, and tankme hopes to be able to counter this by expanding across the city by this time. “We are also hoping to expand to commercial establishments like theatres and malls, and are working with private players and tankers in preparation. We are also hoping to work with residential establishments in a more in-depth manner, such as establishing a sensor that detects when the water levels are low. Then, users can simply re-order water through a one-button process through the app. We hope to have this ready before summer,” said Anderson.

The tankme app is available on iOS ad Google Playstores.