The Hindu Business Line : Now, carpooling via the Web

"East Tambaram to Teynampet, anybody?" reads the post on Indimoto.com. Others read similarly - "Karol Bagh to Gurgaon" and "Basavanagudi to Victoria Road." In a case of the virtual world helping make the real one better, the Internet has sparked the adoption of carpooling in India.

Indimoto was begun as a Web site for auto sales. With a little bit of tweaking, it has become a site for commuters to post carpool ads according to city, area and pin-code. This site covers four cities - Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Pune.

In a country with over a million cars, carpooling is set for a drastic uptake. "Carpooling is a well-known practice in Europe and the US but is still nascent in India with most users unaware of the concept," said Mr Udit Bhandari, Founder, Indimoto.

How it works

Main users of carpooling are daily commuters who drive to office alone and are burdened by high fuel prices, driving fatigue or are interested in helping reduce environmental pollution. People who regularly travel by public transport but find it inconvenient, said Mr Bhandari, can also benefit from a carpool. The willingness to pool is there amongst many but they were limited to people within their immediate circle (friends, office colleagues etc) that they could carpool with.

Indimoto.com lets surfers search for neighbours, post ads and start a carpool with whoever they find suitable. The profile of an average carpool user is a 24-35-year-old office goer, who owns a car.

Indian scenario

In India, said Mr Bhandari, the Government is rather unaware of the idea of carpooling and ways to promote it.

In the US, the Government has special lanes for carpoolers, while in Canada the Government sponsors a carpool Web site: www.carpool.ca, informed Mr Bhandari.

Creating awareness

Indimoto is now in talks with the Petroleum Conservation Research Association, a government body, to have a joint programme for creating awareness about this concept. Carpooling, he said, can save from 50 to 80 per cent of fuel if two to five people carpool.

Around a lakh visitors to this free Web site are now carpooling. For those of you who aren't - hop onto the Internet and get carpooling.

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