The traffic in metropolitan cities is becoming a major concern as the number of cars, and other vehicles are increasing, which is making congestion on the roads. The increase in the number of cars on the roads is not only causing traffic jams but also leading to an increased level of carbon emissions in the atmosphere. The development of hybrid and fuel efficient cars has somewhat lowered carbon emissions, but most people still drive standard cars.
One solution which is quickly becoming popular, particularly in populous cities is ‘ride sharing’ which means different people can use one car to travel to a similar location. Ride sharing is the advance form of public transportation in which technology plays a vital part. Ride sharing should not be confused with ride hailing as ‘hailing’ means flagging a taxi when you want to travel to a particular place. In ride sharing, a driver would transport four or five people at once instead of just one person. The ride sharing company have numerous vehicles which people can get to travel from cars, vans or bus.
The ride sharing is done through a smartphone application where a person would get options to travel to a different route and then select the route or destination he wants to go. The thing that makes ride sharing unique is that the moment a person is booking a ride, that ride may also be booked by other people wanting to travel to the same destination. The ride sharing phenomena has spread quickly not only in the country but worldwide where people not only want to avoid traffic delays but also want economic travel from one place to another. The main purpose of ride sharing is to cut down the number of cars on the roads, which would automatically reduce congestion, especially during rush hours. The other significant reason for the massive popularity of ride sharing is a cheaper mode of transportation from one part of the city to another, as there is not one person but multiple people in a single ride, the fare is divided.
The ride sharing can be defined as modern car service where a person can use a smartphone application to book a ride in a privately owned vehicle. Ride sharing is also called carpooling and lift sharing. Smartphones have been very useful and essential in today’s time, whether it is for connecting socially, ordering food, clothes, or electronic items online, or for paying utility bills. People used to find it hard to hail a taxi sometimes and particularly when they wanted to travel urgently or going to the airport. Today, booking a car ride is very easy and simple through smartphones, online applications, fast internet connectivity, and GPS navigation services. The ride sharing companies make it possible to link people in need of traveling and drivers who are willing to provide transportation.
The best ride sharing service has many amazing features that help a people to not only book their ride in advance but also track the status of the driver, through the tracking feature a person can see where the rider is currently located and in how much time he would reach to pick you up. The ride sharing application also offers a person to easily pay the ride fare through online payment; the ride sharing company also offers package deals of 25 rides, 5o rides and 100 rides to people who frequently use the ride sharing service to come and go from their home to the office.
The person who books the ride can also view the profile of the driver and his reviews and ratings. The modern ride sharing service has completely transformed the transportation business and provided a convenient solution to people who use public transport daily. Apart from people using public transportation, many people who own and drive a car every day are now seeing the positive side of ride sharing. A person would be relieved from not only waiting in long traffic jams, finding difficulty to park the car but can also save considerable money which he would otherwise spend on fuel, insurance, and maintenance of the car. In ride sharing an only single car or van would be on the road taking 5 or 6 passengers which means that there would be 5 or 6 fewer cars on the road which would significantly reduce road congestion.
The ride sharing service reduces the pollution and improves the air quality. The hydrocarbon emissions from vehicles are not good for both health and environment, reducing the number of cars on the road would automatically decrease the emission of dangerous gases and improve the air quality.
One another advantage of ride sharing service is that non-renewable sources of energy such as fuel and would be saved. The modern fuel efficient and hybrid cars have helped to conserve the fuel and now with ride sharing an additional amount of fuel could be saved. 3 or 4 people traveling on the same route via a ride share would not drive a car which would save fuel which would otherwise be consumed.
How the ride sharing works
The ride sharing works through a smartphone application on which both the driver and passenger log on to. The driver logs on the application and set his status in online mode, which means they are available to accept the ride. The passenger would log on to the application and select the route he/she wants to travel to reach the destination. The steps of ride sharing service are
- In the first step, a person or different people would select the route and destination they would go; the driver would get an alert and number of passengers who have booked the ride
- The rider would begin the journey from first pickup point and collect the passengers as the ride progresses
- The passengers would be dropping at the destination that comes on the route.
The fare payments are made through the application, so there is no money transfer between the driver and passenger. The application also asks both the rider and passenger to rate the each other.
Author Bio:
Miss. Natalie Johnson writes online and covers the trending topics according to their popularity. She recently wrote on best ride sharing service and its numerous advantages. People can follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
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