Whitefield's car, bike-pooling move helps cut congestion, pollution

To decongest the roads of Whitefield and reduce pollution levels, a carpooling initiative has been launched by the Whitefield Rising (WR) group, by tying up with PoolCircle, a car and bike pooling network.

Pravir Bagrodia, the first ride giver after the initiative was launched in October, is happy to have shared his ride with Sundaram (ride taker), from Domlur to Kundalahalli Gate. Now he is as one of the top carpoolers. 

A WR member, Bagrodia, said: “Apart from helping to reduce traffic congestion, we also get to know the ride takers. For instance, when sharing a ride with Ashish (ride giver) on one of the days, I discovered that we have common roots and exchanged information on various topics of interest.”

The WR said that the ‘PoolCircle, a mobile application available on IOS and Android phones, has about 34 registered resident communities such as Gopalan Atlantis apartments , DSR Green Vista, Prestige Shantiniketan  apartments among others located at Whitefield in the first phase.

“Communities that have enrolled can, at present, use the app to share or take rides. Each community has a moderator who verifies the user and approves them to use the facility. We want to reach out to all the communities within Whitefield in a phased manner,” said Zibi Jamal, a member of WR.

WR members said that no monetary transaction involved between rider and taker, and the facility could be availed free of cost. They added that about 74 km shared distance has been completed and 14 kg of CO2 emission has been reduced, so far.
 
Raghu Ramanujam, founder and CEO at PoolCircle, said that users need to register on 'PoolCircle' and join the WR Moderated Carpool Group using a unique community code, to use the facility.

“PoolCircle will set up rides only among verified members of the WR Moderated Carpool Group to ensure safety. Our vision is to enable 2.4 lakh km of rides per month, over the next six months. The environmental impact of this will be the reduction of CO2 emission by about 45 tonnes per month,” he added.
DH News Service