Carpooling is slowly gaining popularity in the country. Cab hailing companies are now jumping on the bandwagon one by one. Just a few days back, Meru laid the first stone on this service in India. Though the concept is still being tested, but we see the cab companies are ready to take a plunge.
Rising fuel prices is adding up to countrymen opting for car pooling. It is a very convenient mode of transport for those who travel on same routes and at similar times. The concept has been popular in the US and is seen to be gaining momentum here too.
Uber’s car pooling program called UberPool is all set to pilot in Bangalore now. Uber must have probably chosen the IT hub as a pilot point because there are many travelling to same IT hubs from the same residential areas. This makes Bangalore the sixth city worldwide for the UberPool service but the first in India. Also, none can forget that Uber has suffered a major setback in Delhi.
Uber’s latest figures show that its month-on-month grow in India is currently at 40%, which is perhaps a huge number and such new initiatives are only going to take the number higher. As rumors have it, Ola is also starting its carpool service in a weeks time. The company too will have customers to split fares and share cabs.
In this case, the more the merrier for us. This is a fantastic way to curb the traffic problem we are fighting with in our day to day lives. Its going to be a relief to the traffic congestion on the large as this service gains momentum.
Check out how UberPOOL has helped reduce traffic congestion in San Francisco city!
Not to forget, the cost of the ride would be less than half or even more in case of more passengers. “We desire to see around 40,000 vehicles of these off the streets on a daily basis through the carpooling initiative,” said MA Saleem, Additional Commissioner of Police for Traffic, told Bangalore Mirror earlier this month.
“With Uber Pool we’ll aim to achieve this vision, one we share with policy makers, to make Bangalore a city of the future — one that looks a whole lot greener, cleaner, and more efficient thanks to fewer cars and more shared rides,” Uber Bengaluru’s general manager Bhavik Rathod said in a statement.
There have been some informal car pooling services around the country, however not very popular or safe. UberPool, which would have both is indeed going to be one of the most efficient mode of transport in near future.
Uber doesn’t have any differences with the government in the southern part of the country like it has up in Delhi and is hence probably predicting a rosy start down in Bengaluru and battling it out with both its rivals with this service.
