Delhi, Mumbai top list for shared rides on Uber, Ola

New Delhi: More commuters in Delhi and Mumbai opt for "shared" rides on cab aggregation platforms like Ola and Uber compared to their counterparts in other cities.

'Ola Share' and 'uberPOOL' offers cheaper rides to customers as the system combines travellers heading in the same direction. This also helps reduce number of cars on the road and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

According to Bengaluru-based Ola, it has seen a 500 per cent growth in Ola Share rides in the last one year. It claimed to have effectively reduced 12 million kgs of CO2 and saved over 70 lakh litres of fuel since October 2015. Ola offers shared rides across 26 Indian cities.

"Cities such as Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Kolkata are the biggest users of Ola Share," Ola COO Vishal Kaul said.

Uber, on the other hand, said the launch of uberPOOL across seven cities in India has helped save 34.49 lakh litres of fuel and curb 81.22 lakh kg CO2 emissions in the country.

"The fact that millions of people are willing to share their rides gives us the confidence that we are collectively driving a positive change to reduce carbon footprint," Uber India Head of Policy Shweta Rajpal Kohli said.

For Uber, 28 per cent of rides in Delhi and 30 per cent in Mumbai are uberPOOL trips.

Launched in Bengaluru in September 2015, uberPOOL is available in six other Indian cities.

According to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, the average occupancy of a car is just 28 per cent. This means that while a car can carry four people, it only carries 1.15 persons.