QUEEN’S ROAD: Carpooling, a concept that till recently was not very popular in the city, has finally started to take off. Citizens, especially those working in IT companies at campuses located far away from the city centre, have started to carpool in a big way.
Given the traffic congestion in many parts of the city during peak hours, many feel it is not economically viable for them to take a solo ride. Gopal Gowda, a resident of Nayandahalli who travels to Electronics City every day, carpools on a regular basis. “Initially, I did travel alone to get to and from work. However, considering the congestion, I started using my bike. This I did for a few months but I developed a wheeze because of the pollution. So I decided to carpool. Now, I have a fixed group of people who I pick up on my way to work,” he says.
Similarly, R Prasanna, who works at Hewlett-Packard, travels to both the Electronics City and Whitefield offices of HP every week. “I have a set of four friends who I pick up and drop every day. It is the most convenient way of travelling. Agreed, the traffic still exists. But this is a small step in the right direction. However, the problem that I face is our different work timings. Sometimes, a friend may have a meeting due to which he might be late. In that case, he informs me at least three hours in advance so that I can inform the rest of the group. It will take some time to get used to this but this is the way forward,” he says.
It looks like the government is gearing up to promote carpooling in the city.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) M A Saleem told City Express that his department has been in touch with several multinational companies to promote the idea of carpooling among their employees. “The results (of the talks) have been fruitful. They have said they will request their employees to carpool. Giving incentives to those who carpool too was discussed. They include waiver of parking fees, and recognising and feting them in their companies,” he said.
Campaign launched
On Wednesday, Bengaluru traffic police launched a campaign to promote carpooling. The programme was attended by IT/BT representatives and others. “There are 56 lakh vehicles in the city, while the traffic density ratio is 1:2. This means for every two persons, there is one vehicle. This figure is the highest in the country and probably the world as well. In New Delhi, the ratio is 1:4 and in Mumbai, it is 1:8. There is absolutely no limit on the number of vehicles brought into the city every day. We want new IT industries to set up base here and at the same time, we don’t want them to be troubled with all the traffic. Through this campaign, our aim is to reduce traffic by at least 50,000 vehicles in the next six months,” he said.
Saleem added that though a similar campaign was launched in 2012, it was not much of a success as areas with high traffic density had not been identified. “This time, however, we have identified the areas. They mostly comprise IT company clusters like in KR Puram, Manyata Tech Park and Outer Ring Road. In fact, the Bellandur road sees around 4 lakh vehicles every day,” he said.
Principal Secretary to the IT/BT Department V Manjula opined that the city’s competitiveness should not be compromised due to traffic issues. “Bengaluru is a city where even Fortune 500 companies want to set up shop. There must not be a condition where they have second thoughts due to the growing traffic problem,” she said.
Developers galore
At the launch of the carpooling campaign, representatives of apps like Quick Ride, Ride Ally, Let’s Drive Along and Pool Circle were present. These apps have been designed specifically to ensure that carpooling is promoted among the public.
“Safety of passengers is paramount when it comes to the usage of carpooling apps. In this regard, stringent background checks are done on those who register with us so that we have their details at any given point of time. Pool Circle already has around 15,000 to 20,000 users. We are also planning on introducing a cash transfer option so that those in carpool circles can pitch in for fuel costs,” said Raghu Ramanujam, founder of Pool Circle.