Commuting on Indian roads is nothing less than a headache due to traffic- jams. Each year, the number of cars on the road is increasing at a tremendous rate which puts a lot of pressure on already congested roads. For instance, Delhi had 22 lakh registered vehicles in 1994 but today there are more than 76 lakh vehicles plying on Delhi roads.
But, sadly the rate of road expansion is much less the rate at which India has witnessed motorization in the past two decades.
The number of people owning a car has gone up significantly which means more cars are present on road than ever before. Every day millions of people commute to office by their private cars which mean a lot of space is wasted.
In a typical metro city, a traffic- jam could stretch a kilometer long during rush hour. Also, due to a large number of cars plying on the road, the amount of pollutants emitted by cars is indeed alarming. Although, new technology has made engines eco-friendly than ever before still cars do emit toxic emissions that are harmful to our environment. However,
we can certainly reduce the amount of transmission by sharing our cars. People who work at a common workplace can share their cars for daily commuting. This is commonly known as carpooling.
It is a very simple yet effective technique to bring down the level of pollution. It is said that a car emits carbon dioxide equal to its own weight in a year. So, carpooling would certainly help in bringing down the carbon footprint.
Lets us look at some other benefits that carpooling has to offer.
- Reduce traffic congestion
Driving in the office hours is like waging a war where everyone is struggling for road space and trying to cut through traffic. Ideally, if all car owners use
carpooling for daily commute then the number of cars on the road will reduce by four or five times. Although this seems impossible in the real world but still carpooling will reduce traffic congestion to a great extent if not by four times.
- Save on fuel
All car owners worry about the rise in fuel prices. But with carpooling, you can save your hard- earned money as the fuel cost splits among four people. Also, carpooling saves money on maintenance and repairs owning to less running of a car.
- Make New Friends
Carpooling makes a daily commute more fun and less stressful when you interact with other people. Carpooling gives an excellent opportunity to make new friends. When you share your car with other people, you get to know other people and eventually you make new friends to hang out.
The future
of earth depends on us, we must take initiatives to reduce our carbon footprint if want to save our planet for our future generations. Today, many taxi aggregators and online car-pooling platforms offer the option to opt for a carpool to your destination. Besides, the Delhi government is also encouraging people to use carpooling through their odd-even rule that was implemented for a short period of time in the past few years.
Let us all come together and save our planet from the wrath of toxic gases emitted from vehicles.
