ecns [expanded by feedex.net]: Going home by carpooling

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Going home by carpooling
http://www.ecns.cn/2013/01-25/47319.shtml
Jan 25th 2013, 07:39

















2013-01-25 16:39 CRIENGLISH.com     Web Editor: yaolan
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When the Chinese Spring Festival travel season comes, carpooling becomes an alternative for those who failed to grab a train ticket. However, for many people who consider carpooling, safety and reliability concerns tend to be reasons for them to say "no" to carpooling. Recently, several college students from Zhejiang University established a carpooling website and claim they ensure peace of mind for carpoolers.


Yuan Feng is one of the founders of the carpooling website. He says many of his schoolmates fail to get a train ticket during the Spring Festival travel season so he set up the website with 11 schoolmates. By spending 50,000 yuan setting up the website, Yuan says they hope to provide his peers with a platform to look for possible carpooling opportunities.


"We simply hope to deal with two challenges through the website. First, we ensure the truth of our users' information. We require users to register as much personal information as possible, then we double check the information. Secondly, we established a mechanism for carpooling invitations and booking."


Tao Junye is a college student from Henan province. She says reliability is what concerns her most when it comes to carpooling.


"Due to safety concerns, female students seldom choose to travel back home by carpooling with a stranger. However, if reliability can be ensured, I would like to try carpooling. For example, I'd like to know the ID information of the car owners, or meet them before traveling."


Carpooling is seen as a more environmentally friendly and sustainable way to travel as sharing journeys reduces carbon emissions, traffic congestion and reduces the need for parking spaces.


By sharing one vehicle, carpooling also reduces each person's travel expenses, such as fuel costs.


On Yuan's website, drivers can charge 0.16 yuan per kilometer from passengers, with no other extra charge.


Lu Bo in Hangzhou city says he would like to provide carpooling when driving back home during the Spring Festival.


"Driving alone back home and taking someone makes no difference in fuel costs. Through carpooling, you'll have someone to talk to on the long way home. What's more important is that many college students cannot get train tickets during the peak travel season so carpooling can solve their problem."


Yuan says although their website has attracted more than 1,000 users so far, it's still not easy to find perfect matches between drivers and passengers. If a carpooling network lacks a "critical mass" of participants, it may be difficult to find a match for certain trips.


Yuan adds he hopes their website can attract more drivers.


"We wish to encourage more people to try carpooling. We also hope we can see regulations and laws about carpooling soon. Increasingly more people will accept carpooling in the near future. Green travel relies on you and me."


Nowadays, many local authorities have introduced programs to promote carpooling. In an effort to reduce traffic and encourage carpooling, some countries have introduced high-occupancy vehicle or HOV lanes in which only vehicles with two or more passengers are allowed to drive. HOV lanes can create strong practical incentives for carpooling by reducing travel time and expenses.


And in some countries it is also common to find parking spaces that are reserved for carpoolers.












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