New technology in the service of carpooling

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It seems certain that 2012 will be a turning point for carpooling: considerable and significant progress is currently being made by this practice, which was relatively unknown a few years ago. The progress is notably due to the burgeoning development in new communication technology. However, there are still many hurdles to overcome.

We know the enormous benefits that carpooling can reap: financial savings for the user, reduced pollution, eased traffic congestion, the creation of a community… the list goes on!

Nonetheless, this new means of transport still has some way to go before it becomes more widespread.   

Although carpooling has sparked genuine enthusiasm since 2009, French people still only favour it for long journeys and the practice remains relatively limited for small journeys; this is where the main challenge lies. In fact, only when carpooling manages to become established for these short trips will it be able to reach what the experts call “critical mass”, which corresponds to the number of people necessary to make it a permanent practice.

And to do so, carpooling can rely on major, multiple allies in the field of new digital technology.

Powerful technological drivers

Indeed, thanks to the latest digital innovations, carpooling will gradually be able to establish itself for use on small trips. GPS, smartphones, tablets, Internet sites … the possibilities offered by these different support media are quite simply those that have allowed and will allow its current and future development. There are many examples, from the creation of the covoiturage.fr website to geolocation to secure prepayment systems. 

However, carpooling still needs to be more persuasive on certain subjects, notably with regard to the thorny problem of the return trip: French people are even more sceptical about the possibility of rapidly finding a car to get home from work. And thus prefer to drive the ‘carpooler’ rather than be driven.

Businesses would appear to be the best places in which to develop this practice and mentalities are finally beginning to change. This is demonstrated by the Ville Fluide service, which offers employees an annual subscription similar to a traditional public transport subscription that costs between £8 and £12 per month, up to half of which is paid by the company.