ABHISHEK-story

Mumbai: Mumbai's traffic problem is multi-facted. While the traffic volume on the roads is simply enormous, parking is the second big problem. As for private transport, the taxi service is too costly for everyday use.

Public transport can be painful but Mumbaikars can say goodbye to the horrors of travelling by public transport.

Welcome to the world of ‘Kool Pool’, a car pool service that allows ride-seekers and ride-givers to benefit from each other in a systemised manner.

Manish for one is happy to leave his rickshaw days behind him.

“I'll probably be shelling 1200 per month, while earlier 2,500. I am saving 50 per cent. Comfort level is 500 per cent,” Manish says.

This very fact seems to be the driving force behind the NGO Kool Pool located at Mahim.

Each member has to register at the office where an elaborate identification check is carried out.

After registering, car owners and ride seekers then team up according to a pre-decided route by SMSing each other or through chat rooms on the organisation's website.

With every ride a token amount gets debited from the ride seeker's account and credited to the ride giver or car owner's account.

These credit points will be used by the owner to tank up at HPCL pumps through vouchers.

But the system also has its flaws.

CEO and founder of Kool Pool Joshua D' Souza says, “We have the SMS interface where you can find members travelling in a particular route live on your mobile. For that we would need mass around 1000 members in the same area.”

# posted by Unknown @ 10:04 AM 2 comments