Safety concerns means carpooling has been slow to catch on in India
As Indian ride-sharing services grow, the concept of carpooling is struggling thanks to security concerns aligned with sharing rides with strangers. Sameer Khanna, founder and CEO of Orahi, says there are 27,000 users of their carpooling app in Delhi, still a small number compared to the number of people and cars in Delhi. "It has to do mainly with a sense of comfort. Most people are not open to it. There is a need to make people aware of the benefits of carpooling and that can only be done by providing safe and efficient services" he says. 

NEW DELHI: Even as a number of startups and individuals are coming up with ride-sharing services , the concept of carpooling does not find many takers in Delhi. The initiative has largely remained limited to those working in corporate offices in Gurgaon and Noida thanks to security concerns like sharing a ride with strangers.Sameer Khanna, founder and CEO of Orahi, says there are 27,000 users of their carpooling app in Delhi. Though the firm has received requests for 8,000 rides per month, the figure is still small compared to the number of offices and cars in Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida.“It has to do mainly with a sense of comfort. Most people are not open to ride-sharing. There is a need to make people aware of the benefits of carpooling and that can only be done by providing safe and efficient services.“he says.Most corporate offices encourage their employees to go for carpooling.But there is no proper system of managing it. “Carpooling in Delhi is being carried out in an unstructured manner. Most offices have intranet forums, bulletin board notices and Facebook groups informing employees about carpooling, but it does not ensure security,“ says Nitish Bhushan, Asia Operations manager at Tripda, another carpooling app.Security is the main concern for people who are apprehensive about sharing cars with strangers. To tackle this problem, firms have come with a multi-tier security mechanism. Before connecting people, these companies do a background check of both the car owner and the passenger.Tripda, for instance, asks for a corporate ID verification and one through LinkedIn. Orahi has three levels of confirmation­verification of one-time password, corporate ID as well as government ID. There are also provisions for alert buttons. One can even track the ride. These apps do not share personal information and it is upon the rider to choose car owners.Besides the apps, many people provide ride-sharing on an individual basis. The response, however, is irregular. “It has been a couple of days since I posted advertisements looking for carpool on different forums, but I have received very few responses. The ones that replied do not assure me the type of security measures I am looking for. I have to travel late at night from Noida to Delhi. It is very inconvenient to get my own car every day . The traffic during peak hours prolongs my travel time,“ says Ritika Sharma, an IT professional.More than 90% of the working people, who own vehicles, travel to work alone. Most of this flow is from Delhi to other NCR cities and vice versa, leading to a heavy congestion during work hours.