Passengers opt for car-pooling amid odd-even rationing in Delhi

As the odd-even scheme for cars in the city continues, more and more passengers are opting for car-pooling and shared rides to reach their destinations, vehicle-aggregator apps claimed today.

Taxi hailing apps say they have seen a rise in usage of their platforms in the last couple of days with the users accessing such platforms for sharing rides with other passengers.

"The biggest growth is for trips between Delhi-Noida (400%), Delhi-Gurgaon (150 per cent) and Noida-Gurgaon (100%). Carpooling is enabling people of Delhi to travel with ease during the odd-even road rationing dates," long-distance ridesharing platform BlaBlaCar said.

According to the data by the platform, the app saw 66 per cent growth in the number of seats available in Delhi-NCR this week compared to last week.

"Delhi-specific routes witnessed a significant surge in ridership with an almost 70 per cent increase, with Dwarka cluster faring the best in terms of increase in commuters," Amit Singh, the co-founder of vehicle pool app Shuttl, said. On an average, Shuttl sees 15,000 rides daily, he claimed.

Cab aggregator Ola said it is seeing tremendous adoption of shared mobility categories like Ola Share, Car Pool and Ola Shuttle.

"We are already seeing double-digit growth in demand across various categories, over the last week in Delhi NCR with tens of thousands of vehicles active on the Ola app. We are optimistic about initiatives like car/cab-pooling and the ongoing odd-even experiment contributing to a pollution free Delhi in the time to come," an Ola spokesperson said.

However, there were also complaints of overcharging by taxi-hailing apps as also by radio taxi cabs in the city.

The Delhi government implemented the odd-even scheme for movement of vehicles from January 1 on a trial basis for 15 days as part of its efforts to reduce pollution in the national capital.

Under the scheme, private cars having odd registration numbers will be allowed to ply on odd dates and those with even numbers on even dates.

Crowded buses and metros marked the first few hours of the implementation of the 'odd-even' scheme today.