Hyderabad still drives solo despite push

While carpooling continues to struggle in Hyderabad, the practice is steadily gaining popularity in several Telangana districts, where commuters are increasingly opting to share rides to cut travel costs.

Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged citizens to embrace carpooling to conserve fuel and reduce traffic congestion, the concept has failed to gain traction in the city, with motorists showing little or no interest.

The lack of interest is particularly visible in the Cyberabad region, where traffic police surveys indicate that nearly 10,000 single-occupancy vehicles are seen every hour during peak traffic periods. Transport researchers note that such vehicles occupy disproportionate road space while carrying very few passengers, worsening congestion across the city’s key corridors.

Districts drive aheadHowever, in districts such as Warangal and Karimnagar, carpooling has become a practical commuting choice, especially among school teachers, govt employees, and professionals travelling to and fro Hyderabad on weekends. “We are four colleagues travelling together daily for work. Our fuel expense comes to around Rs 500 a day, which we split equally. In some groups, one person uses their car for a week and then another takes over. Even for weekend trips to Hyderabad, we prefer carpooling apps because they are cheaper and more convenient than booking cabs,” said S Prasad, a school teacher from Warangal.

Need stronger policy supportExperts believe Hyderabad requires stronger policy support and employer participation to make carpooling viable on a larger scale.
“Restricting entry of cars carrying fewer than three passengers on busy stretches like the IT corridor during peak hours could encourage carpooling. But this must go hand in hand with expanding the public bus fleet to reduce dependence on private vehicles,” said T Satyanarayana Reddy, retired engineer from the Central Road Research Institute.

Researchers also observed that carpooling could become an attractive alternative for IT employees if integrated properly into the city’s transport ecosystem. However, the absence of incentives, parking benefits, dedicated lanes, and structured employer-led initiatives has prevented the system from scaling up.

“For carpooling to work in Hyderabad, major office hubs need employer-driven initiatives. Companies should encourage carpooling and ride-sharing among employees through special incentives. High-occupancy vehicles should be offered with free or subsidised parking to motivate more commuters to share rides instead of travelling alone. Creating safe and designated pick-up and drop-off points near metro stations and office campuses will also make carpooling more convenient and reliable for employees,” said Bhargab Maitra, a member of road safety network and a professor of civil engineering at Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.

Experts point out that with more than 17 lakh registered cars operating on Hyderabad roads, the city has enormous potential to adopt shared commuting if residents travelling along similar routes coordinate effectively.

Return journey issueAt the same time, road safety experts say inconsistent office schedules and irregular working hours continue to remain major hurdles for carpooling in Indian cities. “While morning commutes can be coordinated to some extent, return journeys often become difficult because employees leave offices at different times. Poor public transport has also pushed many people towards private vehicles and cabs, limiting the success of carpooling systems,” said Vinod Kanumala from the Indian Federation of Road Safety.