Buhle Mwanza spent months developing an on-demand snow clearing app, which he could finally put to the test this week after Winnipeg received its first big dump of snow.
“You can think of it as Uber for snow removal,” the University of Manitoba student said to explain his app, OnTheStep.
“I was just thinking, why not make a problem all of us have to go through as innovative and fun as possible and really embrace that Winterpeg identity?”
Mwanza says he was inspired by that Winterpeg nickname to develop the app, which connects homeowners with shovellers, called steppers, to get their driveways and walkways cleared.
Homeowners can download the app for free and set up a profile, which includes their location, size of their driveway and how many cars park there.
Once the snow starts to fall, which is did this week, they can request shovelling services right from their phone.
A price is then set and a shovelling notification goes out to all the steppers in the area and the appropriate number will respond.
Although the app launched earlier this month, Mwanza had to wait for the first snowfall to really see the response to his creation.
He went to the first job himself and the homeowner was so excited that they took photos together, but the requests kept rolling in after that.
OnTheStep recently partnered with Hire-A-Refugee, a local organization that pairs refugees with jobs, but demand for service is still outpacing the supply of steppers.
That means Mwanza and his OnTheStep team, Tyrel Praymayer, Alex Shao and Tristen Wong, have been putting in early and long days with the shovel to help handle the load.
Despite all the manual labour, the team says they’re still thrilled by the demand of the first big snowfall and admits the white stuff “has a different identity in our mindsets now.”
With files from the Canadian Press.
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