Morning of 15 April, 2016 would be somewhat different from the usual for Delhiites from Friday, as the Odd-Even rule comes into play, again. The 15 day long car rationing scheme comes with some upgradation in its secend leg. As this time the schools and colleges would be working, unlike last time. As a result, the second phase of Odd-even scheme has loosened some norms and exempted schoolchildren in uniform from the rule. The Arvind Kejriwal-led government has exempted women from the odd-even rule in phase I, which continues to be the same in the upcoming phase as well.
To ease the problems likely to be faced by Delhiites, the AAP government has launched Poochh-O Carpool app to help people explore carpooling options during the 15-day exercise. The app has been designed keeping in mind the security and safety of women in the capital. After downloading the app, users will have to register themselves to find carpooling options within a radius of 1-5 km, Transport Minister Gopal Rai said. Those having cars would be required to give their vehicle number. For instance, someone, who has an even-numbered car and wants to carpool on an odd date, can search for odd-numbered cars. He will immediately get a list of odd-numbered cars in the vicinity, Rai said.
‘PoochhO Carpool’ app, prepared by Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS), can be downloaded on Google Play store for Android users.
Last time, 15-days of the odd-even car rationing scheme provided brisk business to auto drivers and taxi owners, a section that has rallied behind the AAP since its early days in politics. This time the companies seem to have more options available for the customers. Companies like Ola, Uber have a sharing and carpool feature. With the help of this feature one can share the cab with people going to the same location.