Catawba College

SALISBURY — Ever wonder what was behind the creation of Rally Bus, the “crowd-powered travel” business that transports people to and from big events?

Hear it straight from the CEO’s mouth when Numaan Akram, co-founder of Rally Bus, speaks at Catawba College’s Ketner School of Business CEO Lecture.

Rally Bus was founded in March 2015 when Akram and co-founder Siheung Song came up with the concept of “crowd-powered travel,” now a trademarked phrase that combines crowd-sourcing and travel. The two had coordinated a political rally in Washington and became committed to the mantra that “travel is better together,” “better for the community, the economy, and the planet” and because “it just makes sense.”

The New York City-based entrepreneurs developed applications and technology integration for the rider, bus driver and operator. Their technology connected riders with other riders going to the same destination, then delivered high-end buses to get those riders there and back.

Riders could choose from preset trips or set up their own, then share their trip, invite friends, relax and ride. Check-in for riders is simple, too, using a kiosk on the bus.

To date, Rally Bus’ website touts that it has had 644,606 seats reserved and traveled to 3,255 cities. Exclusive partnerships with Major League Baseball, the New York Cosmos, NASCAR, NFL and NBA teams, as well as event and ticketing partners, has help grow the business.

A concentration on the Rally Bus company website, focusing on search-engine optimization, also helped make sure that the company was almost always found near the top of search results.

The speech begins at 11 a.m. Nov. 9 in Tom Smith Auditorium on the Catawba campus. It is free and open to the campus and Salisbury-Rowan community.