So some communities are turning to alternative transportation like carpools, albeit with their own twist. The town of Mumbai, with the cooperation of the city’s police department, an insurance company, multiplexes, and restaurants, is offering discounts on car insurance premiums, movie tickets, coffee, and food at cafes and restaurants, etc. to people who form car pools.
The website that is providing online car pooling service is carpoolmumbai.com. The site helps connect drivers with passengers who are seeking to form a car pool. So far it claims to have 1,700 members and 500 groups who are using the site and the business says that it gets calls from at least 50 people a day inquiring about the service.
Beyond the site and incentives, plans are being formed to include a computer chip in the registered cars so that they can be tracked and contacted to pick up people while the vehicle is en route to a destination.
Our take? It seems that smart people are figuring out how to use the internet to promote and provide much needed services that makes our lives just a little easier. Kudos to these geniuses!