For City, carpooling is the way to go

Carpooling is not new in Hyderabad. Although it was started with the aim of reducing pollution levels in the City, the steep rise in petrol has now made many office goers opt for it to save fuel and money.

The movement have now pick up in areas like Madhapur, Hitec City, Kondapur and Gachibowli.

There are many websites that provide information on carpooling in different locations of the City. These websites exclusively cater to the needs of people who are interested in carpooling.

“I travel more than 17km daily from Kondapur to Old City. I need to spend nearly Rs.7,000 to Rs.8,000 on my fuel which came down to Rs.2,000 to Rs.2,500 after opting for car pooling. It makes sense to share the vehicle with people who are travelling on the same route at the same time,” said Sushobita S, analyst, Mahindra Satyam.

“I was little worried about the security part of it, but thanks to the websites like Poolmycar I am assured about the security as it has come up with a new and secure concept of corporate carpooling.

“People who wish to join the carpool are not only compelled to give their company name but also their employee number during registration. The employee number is verified by the team of the website. There are separate pools for each corporate,” she add.

Of late, several websites dedicated to carpooling in the City have come up. Hydcarpool.com, ridemates.org and poolmycar.in are some of the websites which offer you this facility.

“The main intention of starting the website was to reduce the pollution level and save fuel expenses. Initially many people use to hesitate for the security reasons but now the trend has picked up thanks to the rise in petrol prices,” said UdayB, from hydcarpool.com

“We launched the website officially in 2010 and since then the response has been good. Initially it was only men who use to opt for the services but now many women also opting for it. But in my view it is advisable for people to get into carpooling with known people,” he adds.

In order to search and connect to a potential carpooler, you need to be registered on the website. However, this service is mostly available in the areas where MNC’s are located.

“It will take some time to start the services in other areas of the City as people mostly prefer carpooling only for long distance travel.

One more fact is the frequency of public transport is less in these areas. The stretch between Cyber Towers to JNTU, Cyber Towers junction to Kothaguda and Gachibowli are notorious for the auto mafia.

“Due to lack of public transport, the IT professionals are forced to travel by shared and overloaded autos and taxis that ply in these areas which burns a hole in their pocket,” said Mahesh K, from ridemates.com.

Whatever be the reason, carpooling seems to be the only option left for many of us to save our ever-increasing fuel expenses.

Tags: carpooling, featured, full-image, pollution levels, rise in petrol price, save fuel and money

Category: City, City News