New Delhi: Denizens show their thumbs up for carpooling

New Delhi (PTI): As the odd-even road rationing scheme came into effect in Delhi on Monday, a lot of city residents chose carpooling over taking cabs to work.

Many took to social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to inform others that their cars were available for pooling and various ridesharing mobile applications offered discounts. "I have an even-numbered car. I had posted about it online on Sunday to connect with those who will be travelling to the same place as me and would want to carpool. I had tried this in the last edition of odd-even too," said Shubham Magoo, an IT professional who travels to Noida from Gurgaon everyday for work.

"It is much cheaper than taking cabs and ultimately reduces the number of vehicles on road," he said. For Ridhima Jain, an architect, safety is a concern while carpooling, so she posted online that she only wanted female co-passengers. "I was a little apprehensive about the idea of travelling with men in my car and was wondering whether I should take a cab which is at least GPS-enabled. Then I thought of posting online to connect with women travelling to the same area as me and to my surprise I found four within two hours," she said.

Shirin Sakhuja, who travels from Vikaspuri in Delhi to Gurgaon daily said, "Me and my father have our offices in Gurgaon so we travel together but during odd-even we cannot. So today both of us carpooled with our neighbours and tomorrow we will use our car and take them along".

Ridesharing company Quick Ride had last week announced that it will waive convenience charge for its users to promote carpool during the odd-even car rationing scheme in Delhi. Other carpooling apps like "Blah Blah Car" and "Pool My Ride" were also offering "odd-even" discounts. The number of vehicles on roads came down significantly on Monday, with only even-numbered cars plying in the national capital on the first day of the scheme.

The anti-pollution measure kicked in from 8 am in Delhi and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal urged people to follow it for the sake of their families and children. Kejriwal carpooled with Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Kumar Jain and Labour Minister Gopal Rai to reach the Delhi Secretariat.