With the continuous economic growth, the number of cars is increasing very rapidly in India and that is why traffic-jam and air pollution are reaching to their extreme level. That is why, carpooling has a huge potential to be successful in India. There is another factor too- rising price of fuel. In case you have never heard the term 'carpooling', this definition will help you to understand its meaning:
"An arrangement whereby several participants or their children travel together in one vehicle, the participants sharing the costs and often taking turns as the driver."
Carpooling is not a very new term in the west but for South Asia, it is a bit new concept and it is yet to take off fully in India.
BY searching in Internet, I found Indimoto.com to be related with carpooling in India. It is a useful website in this regard. What I understand is that this website has become very popular and hundreds of members of this website are now using carpooling facilities in different cities across India.
I was more also with the initiative taken by Mumbai Environmental Social Network (MESN), a registered NGO and think tank. You can find about their initiative in the website, Koolpool. They are offering carpooling service through SMS in real time with real people. At this moment, their service is limited to Mumbai city only. They have been able to secure a sponsorship for offering the service free to a number of people for the first fee months. They have also got generous support from their supporters (Indiatimes, PCRA, HPCL, Radio City and Centre for Science and Environment).
Carpooling not only saves commuting expense but also helps towards a greener environment. I am happy that carpooling is gaining momentum in India.
I wouldn't say that carpooling is an alien concept to us Indians. We've been doing it for donkeys' years, and a lot of us still send our kids to school in a 'carpooled' auto rickshaw.
Posted by: Nikhil | July 27, 2006 12:38 PM | Permalink to Comment