Recently there was a discussion
in office about the colleagues who offer paid carpool rides to and from office
daily, to other colleagues. They pick up and drop colleagues who pay them anything
from Rs 10 to 40 or 50 depending on distance. As per company policy, company
does not allow commercial solicitations inside office and hence it becomes
tricky affair since the car-owners post ads offering paid carpool rides in the
company’s online message portal. The car owners definitely like to say that it
is not a commercial activity and they are merely “sharing the fuel expense”. Is
it really so simple? A lot of people don’t agree with it. At the same time many
colleagues who take up this paid carpool ‘service’ complain that the car-owners
are often rude towards them and never agree to slight requests for example of
taking a slight different route.
I think the person charging money
for a car ride essentially means he wants to “earn money”; something which
car-owners don’t want to accept. Because from fuel expenses to insurance cost,
total expense almost remains the same no matter if they pickup colleagues or
not. Hence whatever they get out of colleagues’ pockets is their “income”. Fellow
travelers don’t have a problem in paying; because in all alternative modes of
transport they were to pay anyway. But it is the car-owners’ ‘inferiority
complex’ at accepting the fact that they are taking ‘money’ which is revealed
in lots of indirect manners and gestures. Sometimes it shows in the manner they
try to “justify” why one doesn’t really take money while taking money;
sometimes it shows in their rude manner and attitude towards fellow travelers,
which in a way is exerting their right, in a way telling the other guy who is
the boss who makes decisions here, and hence we have this scenario where fellow
passengers sometimes feel that the car-owner is not civil enough.
If you are running a business by
running a carpool; what is the shame in accepting the fact that you are earning
money? The moment one is not ashamed of taking money; his/her ethics will
follow; as one would accept the “rights” of the fellow travelers. If only we
think that we are not really taking money; we would like to believe that the
fellow traveler does not have any right to demand (e.g. change of route). So
the bottom line is – car owners, don’t be ashamed of the fact that you are
earning money; and behave accordingly.
As soon as someone mentions that
car owns take money and hence should be a bit more polite; they become angry
and refute strongly the fact that they are earning money and they try to taunt
at the persons who question them by claiming that they want “free rides”. This annoyance
at a mere mention of the monetary part is interesting. I don’t think anyone is
asking for free rides. But the monetary part is mentioned to drive the idea
that the occupant is not beyond his humor to ask for a bit of flexibility (e.g.
by going via a different route) from the car-owner.
Coming back to the rude behavior
of car owners; I think basic courtesy is much needed. Kindness is very much
missing these days of inflated egos. People offer carpools to earn a few bucks
– but when it comes to take a bit of trouble to help a fellow person – they act
as if their royal ego is hurt if the person dared to make a request. It is easy
to guess that they are driven by greed (money) and not by compassion or
make-the-world-green kind of ideas which could do any greater good for the
world.
Even if the occasional
lift-givers who act out selflessly (without taking money) appear rude, if they
would, it could be tolerated or ignored. But the professionals who I think are
more likely to have learnt and perfected the tricks of the trade and having
optimized their route, picking points and timing to start and drop they are less
likely to be flexible when occasional customer makes a demand; also fearing
that other participants may learn to ask and may start demanding stuff which
would need frequent changes in plan. If it were a matter of one day or
occasional days, they still may oblige but since this is their daily routine,
they don’t feel encouraged to be flexible.
Someone asked what should be a
fair price to ask so that the persons taking the carpool service find it not in
excess. I think there are no calculators but one could use benchmarks to
estimate. One figure is the public bus’ ticket rate; another shared-auto rate;
so one could charge slightly higher than these two other options which
occupants have.
Now I am going to make a few strong
points:
1) Carpools are not eco-friendly. A lot of
people can’t afford to come to office daily in their own cars; and they are
coming only because they are “subsidized” by fellow occupants. If fellow
colleagues stop taking their carpools, such guys will find it too costly to pay
for fuel from their pocket alone, and hence will take up “buses”. So carpools
are actually cannibalizing “bus” service and if we have to promote buses, we
should discourage cars as well as carpools.
2)
People who earn money from offering carpools are basically making “black money”;
because otherwise they should be showing the income under “income from other
sources” field while filing IT returns – and I guess none of them would be
doing it…
3)
It is still better to take Cab service than this paid-carpool from
un-acknowledging colleagues, because – taxi services ultimately pay taxes to
the govt and hence all their earnings help in our country’s economic growth.
But our colleagues only earn black money and it does not help our nation. So I
think it is better to take any Cab service than carpool.
Have you thought about this
issue before? What is your opinion on this? Let me know what you think using
the comment box.
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