HumSafar: An Android app enabling a safer way to travel

The concept of automobile-pooling has been in existence since the early nineteenth century and has proved its efficiency in reducing the carbon footprint, and costs and stress associated with undertaking travel. In addition, previous studies indicatepooling to be an environment-friendly and a more sustainable way of traveling, for it improves the traffic circulation and prevents congestion. However, this concept enjoys limited success in India, where most working class, especially women, rely heavily on public transports for their traveling purposes. Sincewomen safety has become a global concern, surpassing borders and impacting people at all levels, safety concerns in using public transport come as no surprise. Besides, this lack of safety and fear of crime impact women and their ability to take advantage of their right to participate in and move freely in the society. Consequently, women's activities are often limitedand their freedom to be financially independent also gets affected. Considering the current situation, this research attempts tounderstandthe reasons that deter women from using public transport system and to develop an android based mobile application-HumSafar, which functions on the concept of `public pooling' i.e. pooling in the public transport system, having its roots in the concept of Swarm Intelligence (SI) to form groups of commuters based on shared travel routes and places of destinations. Furthermore, the relevance of such a conceptualization of the app would be discussed with respect to the psychological concepts of `group dynamics' and `group cohesiveness'.