Car Pooling becoming popular in China?

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Well, at least the Western parts:

From the China Daily:

URUMQI, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) — More people preferred to carpool amid cold weather and continuous snow in Urumqi, capital of northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Li Mei, an office worker who lives 10 kilometers from her office, joined a carpooling group she found on the Internet. She gets a phone call at 7:50 p.m. every day from a carpool partner reminding her the time to go home.

Li said: “It is too cold to wait outside for a taxi, and it would be even more painful hopping on a bus without heaters.”

“More people have stopped riding motorcycles and bicycles due to the cold weather,” Li added. “The buses are always packed and taxis are always occupied during the rush hour, whereas carpooling is faster and more comfortable.”

Each of the four partners in Li’s carpool group benefits from direct pick-up and pays 150 yuan (22 U.S. dollars) a month for gasoline, half the cost of taking taxis every day.

Wang Zheng spends 1/15 of his salary on carpooling. “It’s more expensive than taking buses,” said Wang, “but much better than suffering in freezing temperatures.”

In bad weather, carpooling is also preferred by new drivers.

Chen Jie was recently granted a driving license, but she has left her car in the garage. “My driving skills are not good enough to deal with the slippery road conditions,” she said.

As a car owner, Zhang Wei also benefits from carpooling. With three others sharing his car, Zhang receives around 400 yuan every month. “The income offsets the costs of maintenance in winter as the gas price is going up.”

Guo Yun, an executive of Xinjiang Gobi Oasis Environmental Technology Center, advocates carpooling, saying it helps cut carbon emissions from private cars. “Share-riding efficiently utilizes the space inside each car and reduces the total number of vehicles on road.”

However, some commuters and car owners remain reluctant.

“The biggest concern is personal safety,” said Liu Feifei, who refuses to share a car with strangers met on-line and insists on taking buses.

A lack of trust also worries car owners like Zhang Wei. “Some carpool partners leave nothing, but a mobile phone number.”

Akber Azezi, an official in charge of passenger transport in Urumqi, warns some car owners might face legal action if they make illegal profits by providing carpooling services without a taxi-diving license.

Zhao Jianliang, lawyer with Xinjiang Zhitong Law Office, disagrees with his warning, however, saying that charging fees does not necessarily mean car owners are making profits. “If partners share gasoline and maintenance costs, they should not be regarded as illegal.

“All the parties should sign a written contract to avoid ambiguity in case a traffic accident occurs,” Zhao said.

The temperature of Urumqi continues to drop since the winter came and reached the lowest Thursday of minus 20 degree Celcius according to Chinese central meteorological station.

Is this only happening in Urumqi, or does car pooling happen elsewhere? How about hitch hiking? Is that becoming popular in China yet?