Why personal carpooling has not worked in India
9 min readNov 2, 2016
Carpooling is, a few people who may or may not be strangers, travelling a certain distance together inter or intra city in a car.
It therefore is fundamentally about sharing a resource amongst a few, the resource here being the vehicle. It is like how people use public transport, say a bus. It sounds simple and is also practiced in many places around the world, but its not that easily done. In India, it has been a hot topic in hackathons and civic innovation labs, and even though a few took the courage to bring it out of the concept books onto the streets, majority of such projects have not been able to workout.
What shared travelling services on road, work in India:
- A government or privately run bus service.
- A shared auto i.e. a three-four wheeler vehicle carrying lesser passengers than a larger bus.
- New services by private players like Uber Pool, Ola Share etc.
Some pointers on why personal carpooling does not work in India:
- The space: Larger public transports like city buses, are designed to provide a sense of, being in larger accommodating spaces. These vehicles as a result have large clear windows that allow ample light and outside visuals to come in. Inside also, the seating is designed to provide comfort but the positioning and seat-numbers promote sharing the adjacent space with another person with ease while occupying your own designated area. The space with seating and standing areas, is designed to feel utilitarian, not-claustrophobic and public whether running empty or with a crowd.
In the smaller shared autos, which begin from their starting points/stops once they are almost full with passengers, as is their modus operandi, the space perceived by the passenger is still more despite the vehicle’s size. These autos do not have doors-that-close and that although in hind-sight, increases the chances of risk to the passengers, absence of these gates increases the sense of space a passenger feels due to lack of visual obstructions. In this case also, the passenger as a result feels that they are in a public-space while on the move.
With carpooling, this space is small because of the physical dimensions of what is usually a regular hatchback or sedan. Visual obstructions offered by the doors, small windows(made worse with tinted films) etc., make the perception of the physical space further smaller. These cars are also designed for people to travel with closer relations, like family or friends and not targeted so much for public use. These factors can contribute to the carpooling-passenger unconsciously feeling that they are sitting in some one else’s vehicle and more like in someone’s private-space, even if this is only temporary. - The interactions: In a public transport service, the interactions between the driver or/and the person providing ticket if separate, are mostly transactional. A common case is, for the passenger to board the vehicle, take a ticket(inescapable interaction), find a place for themselves, do their thing and get off when the destination arrives.
However, this dynamic changes when one has to travel in a car pooled state as the passenger or the driver may feel obligated to interact. The likelihood of inescapable interactions are therefore higher in carpools. This is not to suggest that people shouldn’t interact, but there are some people who want to be by themselves, and may feel awkward in this situation as a passenger.
By the way, the possibility of awkwardness creeping in or not for either the driver or passenger is not guaranteed. - The conditioning: Who is the driver? As per the construct of our societies, who is the driver? Who is your driver? The term “driver”, is not one, that somebody would usually take pride in. Mostly a colloquial form of the term chauffeur, that is a person who would drive a private or a hired vehicle. Having a chauffeur is considered a luxury, and thus you are perceived as an important person, if you can afford a vehicle with a driver. This driver, would then become a person who would belong to a lower socio-economic class than yourself.
This perception, in a twisted manner can become a bone of contention in the minds of some who do not want to be associated with the ranks of a driver. This could mean for some, not sharing their vehicle to become someone else’s driver, which obviously(to them) sounds much like an ego burner. - The safety: This could be consider as the main cause of concern in India, especially in the case of women’s safety but not discounting on that of men’s as well. Its not like, there haven’t been reported incidents of attack on individuals in public transports in India. In buses, women have complained of eve teasing, groping, pinching and other forms of molestation and harassment. However, there are also new cases of rape being filed where the victim was kidnapped by the taxi driver and then brutally assaulted.
These reports and many such that aren’t officially documented, but travel through word of mouth do caution the traveller to always be on alert. With public transportation which accommodates more people, one tends to develop an expectation of support from the crowd which seems to be much lesser in the case of carpooling.
One such case is of Anita(name changed), who was talking to her friend about travelling in her city getting difficult for those who don’t own a vehicle. To which her friend asked Anita, how does she commute then? Anita told her, that she doesn’t have a choice but to hire an auto which becomes pretty expensive through the month. Her friend suggested that she could use, Uber or Ola or other app based taxi services instead which would come to be cheaper when used with the sharing mode or with the discount coupons, if available. Anita responded to that, with “I would prefer an auto any day to these cabs, as I can jump out of the auto anytime, in case I sense a threat from the auto driver, which is not as easy in a car”.
There are many such Anitas out there and some in many we know, who are scared because of reasons that should not be considered invalid. Being in a connected inter-dependent world, we need to foster the message of a peaceful and safe society, to make trust(latent pre-requisite for carpooling) in each other overcome our apprehensions as quickly as possible.
“I would prefer an auto any day to these cabs, as I can jump out of the auto anytime, in case I sense a threat from the auto driver, which is not as easy in a car”.
- The money: When it becomes awkward, it can create problems. In road based public transportation systems plying in India, in most places the infrastructure doesn’t support smart cards for payments yet. Exception being, monthly bus passes and smart tokens in the BRTS(Bus Rapid Transport System) corridors, which are operational in at 4 cities(Ahmedabad, New Delhi, Indore, Jaipur)only across the country. Till the city wide public-transport-smart-card-based-system comes in place, people will continue to pay for their travel fares with cash to the ticket collectors. In the app based cab hailing services like OlaCabs etc., payment can be done either physically by cash or digitally with the app based wallet offered by the service provider, or others services like PayTM etc. Whether in the cab, or the bus or the shared auto, the problem of tendering exact change when choosing to pay by cash is experienced, but not in an awkward way.
When carpooling, this can also become a cause of concern to some. With the lack of(or the knowledge of), digital money transaction services it may become difficult for people to exchange the exact amount, and then resort to cash with compromises(however small) possible for either the traveller or the owner. Skeptics on the paying front might even want to challenge the basis of the amount demanded. However embarrassing and petty this sounds, somewhere this issue lurks as money has dark subliminal influences on us. - The stranger vs The familiar: Let’s have a look at them separately:
The Stranger, is the case when the carpooling passenger and owner/driver/chauffeur are unfamiliar with each other. Usually, this has been the case of hitchhikers and those who take or give lifts, from or to strangers. In this instance, a lot is based on chance. There is no assurance about who gives the lift. There is also the obligation in majority of the cases to exchange words while on the move. Safety can be a concern for either of them, which also decides their actions of giving or taking a lift. Time in hand to reach the destination could be another factor that decides whether or not to stop for giving a lift. Sometimes, appearances of the lift-taker can be the critical factor overriding everything else, which confirm the first impression cliché.
The Familiar, is the form of carpooling that is more associated with the act of sharing a vehicle by a group of familiar individuals. These don’t have to be related to each other as a family, and can be friends or colleagues. This case concerning the friends or colleagues is one of interest here, as the family would in a higher likelihood move together in a vehicle. Let’s take the situation of friends and colleagues. In such a situation, carpooling brings forth interesting questions. If in the friends/colleagues group, say one person offers their vehicle, and someone else also owns a vehicle, will the group only use this one vehicle at all times or will they shuffle the cars? Will the driver have to pick-drop each person or will they decide on a common pick-drop point? What if someone usually gets late to the pick-drop point, will the driver then wait? What if the driver is rarely on time? What if the driver drives in a manner that is not appreciate by somebody? What if the driver does not like to be instructed by other passengers? What about the vehicle running costs? What if the driver likes to smoke while driving? What if one member always forgets to pay up? What if the owner feels awkward in asking for money, but actually incurs higher maintenance cost since carpooling began?
Such and many other such situations can make personal carpooling a tricky event. Thankfully, with effective communication and empathy, these situations are not insurmountable. - The culture: Some may deny this however there is a big role society and one’s environment play on what one does. These background influencers mould us so gradually that we don’t register them conditioning us. In some countries people, families share larger utensils amongst one another as per the needs. Appliances move from one individual to another in a housing society. In some cities of the world, for things needed, people can rent, use and return. Such behaviours exist due to a culture of sharing in the community. On the other hand, places where individual consumption of artefacts is upheld and taken pride in, such locales will not be able to digest the idea of letting someone else in their society use their vacuum cleaner. Trust in the good of another fellow being is the premise on which these exchanges operate. Majority of India, on a mission of globalisation & urbanisation seems to be heading towards the consumerist culture of an individual owning it all in brand new to be self sufficient. Maybe that is why in 2016, India will have a record vehicle production of 4 million units per annum. https://goo.gl/kxjSIG
There are however some entrepreneurs out there attempting to move around tangible artefacts like furniture, white appliances, bicycles, cars, etc., on the rent based model (Rentomojo, Zoomcar, meBuddie, sRide). Their effort is commendable and one that should be encouraged as this strategy promotes a green shared economy. Some people now, are becoming more open to using second-hand goods, refurbished items, recycling and this change is one that can save all of us from the invasion of the gigantic city dump.
Having expressed my views, I would also like to share the carpooling attempts in India and these should only be encouraged for there are many benefits of the act, like reduction in air pollution levels, reduced congestion on roads, company while travelling, changing ideologies as result of sharing commodities, promoting a trust based culture etc.
Coincidentally, while writing this one, I stumbled upon another article with similar sentiments.
What’s expressed here should be seen through the lenses of opportunities for change makers and not as criticism of the prevailing.
This article is based on author’s personal observations, taking into the account the driver, passenger and experience on the road. There is no data available to prove these phenomenological accounts. This piece does not intend on endorsing any products, services, brands mentioned within.
Feel free to provide your feedback and share it within your community so that we all can think about such phenomenas and perhaps change.
