Promoting carpooling in China

To save on gas and be environmentally friendly, many car owners in big cites are looking for ways to make do. Some of them chose to carpool with others.

On the way to work, Wang Jinglei is no longer alone. He and He Jia, one of his colleagues agreed to carpool a few months ago. They take turns driving and giving lifts to each other during the work week.

He Jia said, "Because we work in the same company and live very closely, carpooling is a low carbon lifestyle, brings us convenience and saves us money."

Besides carpooling with colleagues, Wang also posted a note on the internet offering the remaining two seats in the car in order to save on gas. Like Wang, many private car owners have to find their carpooling partners through the Internet. According to Wang Xiaoyu, product manager of a major carpooling Internet platform, the demand has been increasing about 100%-200% per year.

Wang Xiaoyu, Sr. Product Manager at Beijing Xinxiuweiye Tech. Dev. Co., said, "A larger number wants to carpool with others to go to work, especially during the rush hours. And when the holiday is approaching, others are looking to carpool to travel back to their hometowns."

Nowadays more people can afford a car. But how to spend less time and money on the road have gradually become top concerns.

Most big cities suffer from gridlock on a daily basis, and carpooling can be a good way to reduce the traffic volume on the road and reduce expenditures for many drivers. But it's still not widely practised and China needs more measures to encourage the carpooling.

Huang Shunjiang, Vice Professor at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said, "The government needs to promote the concept of carpooling among the public. And a detailed practice of carpooling can be proposed for discussion. Once reaching a deal, relative laws and regulations must be issued for reference."

Increasing traffic volumes produces more carbon emission, which makes air pollution even worse. As many private car owners look for ways to cope with record fuel costs and be envriomentally friendly at the same time, it's hoped more car owners will carpool for a low carbon lifestyle.