Carpooling relieves travel rush pressure
Print Edition
INSTEAD of queueing at crowded railway stations or buying costly air tickets, many Chinese are opting to carpool home during this year’s Spring Festival travel rush.
Xue Yiyi, 25, who works at an Internet company in the southern city of Shenzhen, plans to visit his parents in his hometown in Rongxian County in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. He is meeting up with three strangers to share the 400-kilometer journey.
Getting a ticket home to celebrate China’s most important holiday for family reunions, which falls on February 8 this year, has long been a headache for Xue. But this year, things seem to be different.
He found a seat in a car owned by a family whose hometown neighbors his through ride-hailing app Didi. It will cost just 200 yuan (US$32) for his share of road tolls and fuel costs.
“It brings much convenience for travelers like me and will make the boring trip quite interesting. Also, it is an environmentally friendly way to travel,” Xue said.
A record number of people are expected to be on the move between January 24 and March 3, a 40-day period known as chunyun, during which people travel home to celebrate the Chinese New Year.
Up to 2.91 billion trips are expected to be made via road, railway, air and water, up 3.6 percent year on year. Although authorities plan to run more trains and buses, the world’s largest human migration still puts pressure on the nation’s transport system.
To help travelers who cannot get a ticket, many websites and ride-hailing apps have rolled out carpooling services to match drivers and passengers going home for the holiday.
Lu Zeming, 31, who works at a hospital near Beijing, found three traveling companions heading from the capital to Jilin in northeast China after he posted information about ride sharing at 58.com, a classified adds site.
Lu will begin the 1,200 kilometer journey in his Nissan at around 5am on February 5. “It is not about making money. I will go home anyway. Travelling with others can save costs and make the long trip not that tiring. Three of us can drive,” said Lu.
A search of the site using the key words “Spring Festival” or “carpool” produced more than 4,500 results yesterday.
Statistics from Didi showed that there were some 580,000 inter-city carpooling requests between January 11 and January 23. It’s estimated that around 51.5 percent of people will travel between February 3 and February 6.
The average trip is a distance of around 450 kilometers with the longest — at 3,577 kilometers — from the southern coastal city of Sanya to the northern city of Shenyang.
Huang Jieli, general manager in charge of Didi’s carpooling services, said China’s transport system could not meet the demands of all travelers during the Spring Festival travel rush. Its inter-city carpooling service is a new alternative.
Even the authorities are encouraging “not-for-profit” carpooling services during the holiday travel rush.
But Wang Shuiping, a senior official with the Ministry of Transport, warned at a press conference that vehicles should be well maintained before departure and car owners and passengers should make their rights and responsibilities clear to avoid conflicts during the journey.
Carpooling services became popular in the United States and Europe decades ago. With the social progress and Internet development, they have gained popularity in recent years among Chinese, who were previously believed to be too shy to share a ride with strangers.
“People are more open-minded now. I do not feel unsafe or embarrassed. We are strangers, but we are going to the same direction — home,” Xue said.
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