Udhë is a carpooling platform that connects drivers with commuters in Kosovo, Albania, and North Macedonia. In an interview with one of the founders of Udhë, Eroll Gorçi, we discovered more about this app.
"Being a software developer who loves to build cool digital products, in March 2021 my team and I launched our mobile application for both iOS and Android. It started as an online community aiming to digitize hitchhiking and it became a virtual community that provides an alternative solution for city-to-city travel. Rides are also regularly offered to neighbor countries such as Montenegro, Albania, N. Macedonia, Serbia, and Greece. The online community now counts 30k+ members that regularly take rides together from city to city.", says Eroll when asked about the creation of Udhë.
Udhë has now made it its mission to help everyone in finding an empty seat filled with good company. As the team mentions, the journey has been a long one of testing and planning, they started with an online group on Facebook to test the demand for such a solution, and the community grew to more than 10,000 users in a year. That's when they knew they needed a platform to implement their service! Matching drivers with commuters through a simplified digital solution was their challenge.
"Every software developer’s main challenges are usually bugs and fixing them. However, at Udhë we have created a system that finds and fixes them faster. Being a startup in the Western Balkans you face many challenges. The main challenge is having access to financing opportunities, which are lacking in this region.", explains Eroll.
Daily commuters today have an alternative way of traveling from one city to another, which gives them more freedom of movement. Although a useful idea for all, the core target audience is youth, especially university students who commute from one city to another. The drivers are mostly professional workers that commute daily to work and are looking to minimize their expenses, even making a profit.
Asked about his big future plans for Udhë, Eroll says: "We plan to expand our services and presence in all Western Balkans within the next two years. This will also include offering new services within cities as well."
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