25% people willing to travel to office thrice a week, 30% 5 times a week

As offices start reopening, a survey has revealed that in the post pandemic era, about 25 per cent people are open to travelling to work thrice a week, while 30 per cent are willing to do so five times a week! Interstingly, about 95 per cent are open to carpooling to work!

The study, undertaken by sRide, a social platform that helps millions of people to commute via carpooling, covered 10,000 users of the sRide app across the metros.

The survey found that amidst efforts by employers to get their employees back to working from office safely, about 95 per cent respondents in the metros admitted they were willing to carpool to work. Of course, the majority preferred to commute in ‘car bubbles’ with a fixed set of people they were comfortable travelling and socialising with. About 53 per cent of the respondents from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad and Kolkata expect to return to working from their offices with effect from September 2021.

Some of the top IT companies in India are considering reopening their office spaces by October 2021, provided employees are completely vaccinated and the Government permits.

Lakshna Jha, founder & CEO, sRide, reveals that regular carpoolers have become friends and acquaintances. Since there is “a greater sense of familiarity”, because of having traveled together in the past. These riders are “creating their own social bubbles with people they travel with on the same route.” Such social bubbles give rise to small communities of people who travel together and establish long-term relationships. With hikes in the fuel prices, many find it economical to carpool than use their own personal vehicles. It has been observed that commuters tend to repeatedly choose the same set of co-riders for their commute to work or for shopping, and even vaccination drives.