Carpooling operations need government guidance

Beijing plans to introduce a "carpooling" guideline for private cars during the year to boost the legalization of carpooling

According to the “Legal Evening News” report, following the release of the taxi ride-in policy, Beijing also plans to issue a “carpooling” guideline for private minibuses during the year. The Beijing Municipal Transportation Commission has made it clear in the near future that the sharing proposal for private minibuses will be announced this year. At present, the research on carpooling has achieved preliminary results. The formulation of opinions has not only formed a specific direction, but also details such as the sharing of carpooling expenses and the distinction between illegal operations and the like. In addition, the opinions also include public welfare incentives such as the selection of a “pooled rider” and a reward-reducing joint-use website. The legalization of carpooling in Beijing has triggered widespread debate. What is the status of Foshan carpooling? What are the challenges faced by carpooling? Can the legalization of carpooling make full use of travel resources?

Survey: Most carpoolers are acquaintances or fellow reporters found that due to factors such as safety and information sharing not being in place, Foshan carpooling is still dominated by acquaintances and fellow villagers, and the proportion of carpooling through resource sharing is small. In specific carpooling, carpooling by acquaintances is mainly a co-worker or neighbor. The car-pooling between the villagers is mainly due to the sharing of long-distance driving costs and the need to return home during major holidays. In general, when major holidays such as the "Eleventh" and the Spring Festival arrive, there will be a large number of carpooling among fellow villagers.

Some people in the industry pointed out that through the enthusiasm of the Lunar New Year carpooling, in the current “carpooling environment”, carpooling is still an act of taking people as a last resort because they cannot buy tickets. In addition to traveling by vehicles where people are unwilling to use strangers, because of the low level of trust among strangers in the society at present, some car owners are also reluctant to resort to carpooling because of safety concerns.

In addition, due to the current risk of carpooling that may be “operating as a black car,” some car groups that do not care much about driving costs are less enthusiastic about participating in carpooling. The reporter noted that every year on the Spring Festival returning home to carpool, there is a widespread phenomenon that the supply of cars is in short supply.

The proportion of carpooling is small, but the phenomenon of driving alone in the urban areas is very common. Recently, according to a survey conducted by a Nanzhuang pottery company in Foshan with more than 80 people driving to work, the proportion of driving alone exceeded 80%. It is understood that except for a small number of parents who need to send children to school, most of the owners are driving alone. A survey by the reporter found that apart from being a single person traveling by car alone, couples rarely work in the same place or even in the same direction. These factors have increased the universality of the phenomenon of driving alone. The reporter visited the major auto 4S shops and learned that due to the current lack of carpooling atmosphere, the phenomenon of Foshan family buying a second car has become more and more intense in recent years.

Industry:

Legal Carpooling Benefits Resource Sharing Industry insiders pointed out that carpooling not only meets the “energy saving and emission reduction” policy advocated by the state, but also makes full use of vehicles and road resources, effectively alleviates congestion in urban roads, and solves the problem of insufficient parking spaces in cities. Many owners believe that the legalization of carpooling is expected to break the status quo of “only acquaintances or fellow villagers” carpooling, and through resource sharing, effectively solve the “difficulties” in peak hours of work and commutes, and ease the lack of transport capacity for major holidays such as Spring Festival travel.

In recent years, with the increase in the number of car owners, the prospect of carpooling has also been consistently seen by the industry. Some experts pointed out that the rapid increase in the cost of vehicles provides a lot of car resources for carpooling. At present, more and more low- and middle-income families are entering the ranks of car buyers. Such car owners care more about the cost of cars. They are more willing to reduce car costs through carpooling. Second, carpool supply and demand communication technology is quite mature. With the popularization of smart phones and the involvement of positioning technologies, the exchange of information on “carpooling supply and demand” has been solved. Some time ago mobile phone taxi APP software in the hot everywhere, but also fully explain the "carpool supply and demand problems" a lot of existence. Third, if carpooling can be legalized, it will also create a good carpool atmosphere. The Beijing Traffic Control Department recently stated that taking Beijing’s 5 million vehicles as an example, if 10% of the cars are willing to share cars, removing the average daily limit of 1 million cars per day will reduce the number of cars by 400,000 vehicles per day. Beijing will consume less than 2.5 million tons of fresh air and reduce emissions of carbon monoxide by 3 million tons. Carpooling is of great social significance. If Beijing takes the lead in the legalization of carpooling, it will certainly affect the carpooling atmosphere in major cities including Foshan and boost the recognition of carpooling from all walks of life.

A: The acquaintance carpooling is difficult due to the time difference. The reporter conducted an in-depth investigation and found that the current carpooling of acquaintances or fellow citizens is mainly presented as "fixed object" carpooling or "going to a fixed destination" carpooling type. However, in reality, it is difficult for the acquaintances to have a hard time for carpooling. The stranger or even the fellow carpooler is faced with a complex screening process that is not accepted by the owner.

The reporter learned that because carpooling between acquaintances is too fixed, it is easy to be troubled by travel time. In addition, there is also a lack of reference standards for the collection of fees between acquaintances. Between acquaintances often hinder the influence of face, human and other factors, the owner is ashamed to collect money, passengers do not know how much to give, etc., and ultimately difficult to form a long-term stable carpool relationship. Ms. Lin, who works in a ceramics company in Nanzhuang, told reporters that she had previously used carpooling with her colleagues. However, because private companies often have to work overtime, there are cases where relatively fixed objects are inconsistent. In addition, situations such as business trips or other temporary arrangements make carpooling among acquaintances difficult to truly meet travel needs. Ms. Lin introduced, in desperation, eventually chose to buy a car to work. Reporters visited found that in addition to acquaintances paid for carpooling, there are also some people who are willing to behave in a friendly manner. Through the intranet, they will publish free rides for colleagues to ride. However, since the owners are reluctant to collect money, they generally can only take the road. The riders generally still need to change to other modes of transport to get back home. This kind of “banning car” does not really satisfy the goal of carpooling.

Trouble: Strangers who want to carpool themselves need to identify carpools between strangers. They are faced with the cumbersome procedures of screening true and false information. Mr. Peng, who works in an electric factory in Chancheng, said that he once drove back to Dazhou City in Sichuan Province during the Spring Festival. Since the self-driving journey is as long as 1900 kilometers, the cost of returning home by car is not low. So he published news on the Internet to find a fellow carpooler. In order to succeed in carpooling with the fellow townsfolk, he chose to meet the fellow villagers in advance at a Sichuan restaurant, and let the other party pay a certain amount of deposit under the witness of the shop owner. Mr. Peng said that due to the lack of standardized management of carpooling, the success of oldtown carpooling is not much, and many car owners are not willing to waste time for checking information. As passengers, most people are not willing to take the ride unless they are forced to do so. It is understood that the current exchange platform for carpool supply and demand information is very lacking. At present, there are not many websites that specialize in carpooling business, and there is no brand carpool network recognized by car owners and riders. The reporter was informed that the current news of carpooling mainly comes from some forums that can easily publish information, and this information has not been verified by the website. Regardless of whether it is the owner or the rider, it is necessary to identify the true and false of these information by themselves in order to avoid the risk of fraud.

Extension: "Carpooling" operation needs government departments to guide reporters to understand that the developed countries in Europe and America have already formed a very perfect carpooling system, and many car owners are also happy to carpool. Take the United States as an example. Most large and medium-sized cities in the United States have parking spaces dedicated to carpooling. Carpooling sources can receive parking privileges. In addition, the U.S. government has also set up special lanes for HOV (high-carriage-rate vehicles) on the highways. Such lanes are only allowed to be carried by cars with three or more persons. Driving a heavy truck driving in is a fine. In Europe, driving alone on the road will impose higher parking, road and bridge costs. Singapore, Asia, also stipulated that certain sections of private cars must be driven by more people before they can pass.

Industry sources pointed out that the legalization of carpooling is a necessary condition for the carpooling operation. Judging from the quantitative point of view, China has entered the automobile society, and Foshan has a higher density of cars in the nation. The standardized management of carpooling can effectively break the current trust and security crisis. At present, with the maturity of automotive GPS positioning technology and the improvement of wireless network transmission technology, it is possible to solve the safety problems of vehicle owners and passengers by cooperating with driving recorders and other equipment. In addition, with the mature application of mobile phone APP software, the search for carpool resources among strangers through mobile phone positioning has also become a breeze. It is worth mentioning that the legalization of carpooling and the establishment of a reasonable guideline for the toll by the government authorities will attract car owners who care about the cost of car ownership to allocate car costs through legal carpooling.

Some experts suggest that the government can allocate special funds to establish a carpooling inquiries website and create a carpool resource supply and demand platform. In addition, buses can also be used as a demonstration of the role of carpooling to drive private cars into the car pool.