NearHop finds you the best possible travel plan

NearHop is a Hyderabad based startup, which hopes to provide you the best possible itinerary. Once you enter your trip details, NearHop will discover all possible routes to your destination, which includes travel via air, train and bus. So, for instance, if I am searching for a trip from Ahmedabad to Bangalore, the NearHop engine shows me that I can either travel by air or by a bus-train combination (take a bus from ahmedabad to pune and then take a train from pune to Bangalore or take a train from Ahmedabad to Mumabi and then a bus from Mumbai to Bangalore).

Each itinerary also lists the estimated price and also provides you the option to book the ticket. You can also filter the results by the number of hops you’re willing to take (3’s the maximum).  I may need a refresher of my algorithms course, but I think this is an example of the classic Travelling Salesman Problem. And while the engine forms the core feature of the site, the algorithm does need some additional tuning.

For instance, the search results for Ahmedbad to Bangalore show me an itinerary that uses bus from Ahmedabad to Pune and train from Pune to Bangalore. However, the very same train runs directly between Ahmedabad and Bangalore. Common sense dictates that I would be least bothered about the Abad - Pune - Bangalore itinerary if there’s a direct A’bad - B’lore train.

None the less, this ‘explore all possible available routes - options’ is an innovative feature and I think these guys need to work to enhance the user experience and popularize the service. I can definitely see the value of such a service when someone’s be making their holiday plans.

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Comments

4 Responses to “NearHop finds you the best possible travel plan”

1. Venkat on October 14th, 2008 5:36 am

   Hi Pranav,

   Thanks for your review and comments.
   We have fixed the bug that you have pointed out.
   We are also in the process of improving the UI.

   Thanks & Regards
   Venkat

2. Road Side Romeo on October 14th, 2008 5:59 am

   Hi Friends,

   Very nice Idea,, Keep it up.

   Regards
   http://www.roadsideromeo.net

3. jaggu on October 16th, 2008 6:28 am

   well, Indeed a travel start-up with a differenciation factor, but when you think of it isnt the travel space so crowded already I mean yatra, travel guru, make my trip etc are these companies sustaining traffic on their website?

4. Kiran on October 22nd, 2008 5:12 am

   Jaggu, There is a marked difference between Yatra, Travel Guru, MMT and this travel itenary site. They do not give you options that an itenery site gives you.

   This site could be of use for travels that does not really include high traffic cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore etc. Could be of use when people are travelling in the low traffic cities such as say Kochi, Nagpur etc. where getting a flight when you need is not really feasible.

   Nearhop would need some solid positioning in the above direction to generate traffic. Its not really worth competing with the biggies now in their own game