Millions on the move

"I have an SUV and plan to drive it home from Chongqing to Zhuzhou (Hunan province). I plan to leave on Feb 8 and take highways for the whole trip," Guo Long, a construction engineer from Zhuzhou who works in Chongqing, wrote on a carpooling website.

"Besides my wife and me, there are extra three seats in my car, so I'm looking for three passengers. Women are preferred, and those who are interested should be healthy and non-smokers. Ideal passengers would have a driver's license."

Guo said he thought it is impossible to buy train tickets for his wife and himself, and air tickets, though easier to find, are too expensive, so driving home seems a reasonable option.

He calculated the cost of each means of transportation.

"A hard sleeper ticket from Chongqing to Zhuzhou costs 248 yuan, an air ticket around 900 yuan. The road distance between the two is 1,100 km, which means gasoline will cost 900 yuan and the highway toll will come to nearly 500 yuan.

"If I can find three passengers, the cost per person will be 280 yuan, which is about the price of a hard sleeper ticket."

Since the beginning of January, ride-sharing information has surged on several marketplace websites, including 58.com and picker365.com.

Wang Yi, product director of the carpooling service at 58.com, a popular website for information sharing and item exchange, said more than 30,000 posts about car sharing were posted every day since January, almost 30 percent more than usual.

Nearly 1 million people would view those posts per day before the festival, he said.

A survey by 58.com found that nearly 50 percent of netizens who sought co-travelers found companions on the website.

Netizens began flooding the website searching for carpooling information in early January, Wang said, adding that his subordinates were busy editing information based on netizens' places of departure and destinations.

"We encourage those who seek car owners to submit their ID information and cellphone numbers on our website, but it's not obligatory," Wang said. "However, the more information you provide, the more replies you can get and easier it is to find companions."

In addition to the information database, the website also provides a sample of safety contract for passengers and drivers, he said.

"We encourage every passenger to sign the contract online, and tell their families about car owners' information, because this can help ensure passengers' safety and help the their families to know their routes," he added.

Since 2008, carpooling has become an increasingly popular choice among Chinese people returning home during Spring Festival, according to Wang.

Car sharing can make full use of the transport resources and alleviate traffic during Spring Festival. In addition, it is affordable for most people and provides them a chance to make friends, he said.

There are no set, unified price standards for sharing a vehicle, Wang said.

Xue Junying, chief executive officer of picker365.com, a website specializing in the carpooling that opened in 2010, said the website is designing carpooling application software for cellphone users.

Information about carpooling is available on the Internet, but this brings inconvenience to those who are unable to access the Internet but want to seek a car to share. Therefore Xue's engineers are conducting research for an app for smartphones to help travelers find shared cars at any place and any time, Xue said.

"Our website is just a bridge between car owners and passengers, so we do not intervene with their deals," he said, adding they will popularize an online insurance this year, aiming to help users to enjoy a safer and more assured journey.

He added that there is a remarkable surge in information of the carpooling as national holidays such as the Spring Festival and National Day approach, and it is becoming a feasible and affordable way for young people, especially migrant workers, to travel or return home.

Contact the writers at zhaolei@chinadaily.com.cn and caoyin@chinadaily.com.cn