Delhi pools in for a greener ride

More Delhites are taking the car pool route to cut down on stress, fuel costs and pollution. Here’ sa news item I picked a few months back.

Every evening, when it was time to drive home to Defence Colony from his office in Bioda, Manveer Singh cringed. Driving alone in rush-hour traffic, amid the clamour of horns and angry commuters was a daily ordeal. That’s when he found deliverance – in a car pool.

“I have never heard of car pools in Delhi. Here, you don’t feel safe sharing your car. But I was in for a pleasant surprise,” says the interior designer, who has now been carpooling for the last six months.

An Internet search put him on to an auto classified ads site, www.Indimoto.com, which had a dedicated car pool channel. Singh found an ideal partner in a mid-level manager in a BPO who, like him, worked in Noida and lived some 2 km from his house. “It’s a comfortable arrangement in more ways than one,” says Singh. His fuel bill is one-third of what it used to be – they use his car and Singh’s partner pays for petrol three weeks a month. “Since we both make an effort not to delay each other, we are now never late for work,” says Singh. Because they take turns driving, the stress is reduced. And so has the anxiety of driving alone.

On the net
Websites such as www.Indimoto.com, www.delhicarpool.com and www.carpool.in, promoting rideshare programmes, are tapping into a client base with immense potential. www.Delhicarpool.com, which says its aim is to “promote the responsible use of automobiles by individuals, and to raise public awareness of the environmental and economic benefits of rideshare programs”, began in 2005 by developing employer-based rideshare programs. The site, like www.carpool.in , requires a person to first become a member and list his antecedents before he can post an ad. – Hindustan Times, Feb 04, 2007.