The Benefits of Carpooling in Contrast to Single Driving

Traditional Practices Followed

Carpooling also referred to as car-sharing is the sharing of car journeys so that more than one person travels in a car, saves time, traffic problems, pollution and restricts only a single car to travel to the same location. By having more people using single vehicle, carpooling reduces cost per person during travel which includes fuel costs, tolls as well as additional stress of driving.

Carpooling is also a more environment friendly, compatible & sustainable way to travel as it reduces air pollution, traffic congestions on the roads & the need for parking areas. Carpooling is an important asset when there is inflation in fuel prices or high pollution. It is also a good way to optimize the full seam capacity of a car which remains unused when less people are using the car facilities.

In 2009, carpooling represented 43.5% of all trips in the United States and 10% of commute trips. The majority of carpool commutes (over 60%) are 'fam-pools' with family members. Also, Delhi’s Chief Minister Mr.Arvind Kejriwal has implemented the concept of Odd-Even to reduce the pollution level in the National Capital. The Scheme says that cars with Odd numbers would run on one day while cars with Even numbers on alternate days.

Carpool Operation is more popular for those who work in places with more jobs not far away, and who live in places with higher density population. However carpooling scheme is not favorable for elderly people or for those who spend most of their time at work, homeowners.

Future of Carpooling 

In today’s world, commuting in big cities is nothing less than a headache. Roads, those were meant to reduce the time bound distance between places, have been bleeding with the load of traffic due to the increasing number of vehicles plying on it. Each year, the vehicle density on roads keeps on increasing, with 245 cars per km of road in Delhi according to a 2015 survey. Delhi’s registered vehicular population has reached to nearly three times to 7.6 million from 2.2 million in 1994, registering a growth rate of 14% per annum. Due to large number of cars plying on the road, vehicular pollution is considered to be a major source of air pollution, which has been placed in the top ten health risks faced by human beings globally. Delhi, capital city of India has the dubious accolade of being regularly cited as the most polluted city in the world, with air pollution causing thousands of excess deaths in a year in this growing megacity.

Is there a lesson here for the future?  

The thing that worries the most is the declining capacity of our planet to buffer itself against human impacts. Look at the new problems that have come up: the ozone hole, acid rain, global warming. This alone is alarming enough for us to step out of our comfort zones and do something for the environment. However, no matter how many initiatives we take to make our car engines eco-friendly, we still can’t reduce their toxic gaseous emissions to a level where we can consider that they don’t exist. With an ever-increasing number of vehicles, we ought to consider a sustainable way of traveling. That’s where carpooling comes in.

Conclusion

The idea of carpooling is simple. Four people travel the same way to work every day. Each drives his own car. Why should they not travel in one car instead? They can switch between cars every day, so that each one drives one day and get three days as a passenger. They save money on fuel, feel less fatigued on the passenger day, and generally feel much happier in life. And yes, they do their bit for the environment by saving on fuel emissions. However, perks of carpooling are not limited to these advantages. It can be easily defined as a future necessity and here is why we keep on saying that.