Carpooling takes off over Lunar New Year holiday

Didi Shunfengche, the biggest carpooling platform in China, said that over a million people used its service during the recent Lunar New Year holidays, with 810,000 people ride-sharing to travel home and 275,000 people sharing rides for the return journey. That equates to the transport capacity of a mid-sized airline or 1,133 eight-carriage trains and means that carpooling is emerging as an established alternative to trains, buses and flights for the annual holiday rush home.

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It’s a sight beamed across the global media every year: hundreds of millions of people in China converging on public transport to return to hometowns across the country for family reunions during the weeklong Spring Festival holiday.

This year, planes, trains and buses shared the load with the emerging trend of car-pooling. For those driving to hometowns, the Internet provided easy channels for travelers to find other people going their way.

The biggest carpooling platform in China, Didi Shunfengche, said it matched about 810,000 people for ride-sharing for the recent Spring Festival homecoming. That equates to the transport capacity of a mid-sized airline or 1,133 eight-carriage trains. Counting in the 275,000 people who shared rides for return journeys, Didi carpooling beneficiaries surpassed 1 million as of February 13, the official end of the holiday. This is the first year that carpooling has become a significant complement to railways, buses and flights for the holiday rush.

The Ministry of Transport has recognized nonprofit carpooling as a means to alleviate the heavy burden that holiday travels put on public transport, even though it is a version of private car-hire, which remains in a regulatory gray zone.

The strangers filling the empty seats of cars — and sometimes also the void of lonely drivers — are participants in the popular concept of the “sharing community,” which seeks to break down barriers that separate people of mutual needs.

“The biggest allure of carpooling to me is its great convenience,” said Li Fusheng, who secured a seat in a fellow traveler’s car to go from Tianjin to Beijing on Didi’s platform.

It was a door-to-door trip of a little more than 100 kilometers, at a cost of 69 yuan (US$10.6), according to Didi’s automatic route and passenger number-based calculation. It would have been almost the same price for Li to travel on a high-speed train, but ride-sharing spared him the necessity of connecting subway trips on either end.

He said his experience of sharing private space with a stranger turned out to be a pleasant exchange of chitchat, as though he were riding with friends.

“One might be concerned about how skilled the driver is, and safety issues may particularly worry girls,” Li said. “But I found the experience to be okay. At any rate, my journey was short.”

Like many classified websites, which were the first to spread carpooling advertisements in China, carpooling mobile applications offer both drivers and passengers an agreement to sign, which states that the platform is responsible only for information sharing and not for any disputes or losses incurred by carpooling. Insurance offered by platforms covers only road accidents in most cases.

However, stories of passengers being dumped on highways halfway through carpooling trips are more than urban legends in this under-regulated market. Some drivers trying to make extra money from shared rides work with other drivers on a carriers’ relay.

Passengers are not the only ones with risk exposure. Drivers, too, have reason to be wary. Inviting total strangers into one’s car for a few hours can be a big gamble. A journey can turn into a nightmare if rider and driver don’t get along.

On Didi’s carpooling platform, car owners can post their expectations of passengers. Among the rules of etiquette expressed are: “With driver’s permit and initiatives to share the steering wheel.” “Easy-going, communicative.” “No smoking, no eating.” “Timely payment.” “Gentle with cars, no banging doors.” “Considerate, willing to spare me detours.”

Wang Xueyu, who drove two strangers he contacted through Didi from Beijing to Chifeng in Inner Mongolia before the holiday, said he expected them not to call him shi fu,” a polite way to address a worker. In short, he didn’t want to be treated like a chauffeur.

“Carpooling is a cooperative relationship, while car-hire could be called a service,” Wang said.

The journey he shared was 400 kilometers long and paralleled a popular train route where holiday tickets were sold out quickly. By helping two people get home, at a cost of 237 yuan each, he managed to cover gasoline charges and even pocket some money to fill up his tank for his return journey.

Sometimes drivers are so happy to have company on a long trip that they don’t charge carpoolers a penny.

Chang Bing shared his car with two fellow travelers on a 260-kilometer trip from Xi’an in Shaanxi Province to his hometown Qing Yang in Gansu Province. He didn’t charge them for any road expenses.

Chang is a member of the nonprofit, mutual-aid homecoming alliance called Blue Ribbon, an initiative of the Chelun Community, one of China’s biggest car owner online sites, together with Baidu Map.

Drawing on cooperation with 200 popular mobile apps and their user streams, the alliance succeeded in organizing more than 250,000 holiday homecoming units sharing the same route.

To fit in with his riders’ schedules, Chang even had to postpone his journey a day, but he said he didn’t mind. The trip was more pleasant with two companions. Friendships born of ride-sharing are an extra bonus.

“We all grew up at the same place, relocated to another one for work, and then went on a homecoming for a holiday,” he said. “We found a lot to talk about. Upon arrival, one even invited me to his home for a meal.”

Li said even if his driver offered to waive payment at the end of his carpooling journey to Beijing, he would still insist on paying. It’s a tidy way of keeping a new relationship unambiguous, he said.

“Without knowing my carpooling companion well enough, I didn’t want to leave any loose ends,” he said. “It’s a complicated world.”