Recent research by TomTom shows that Cape Town has the most congested roads in South Africa. The city’s CBD is particularly hard hit by traffic delays. Now a new technology-based initiative has been launched to try to tackle the problem head-on.
Accelerate Cape Town (ACT) has launched a carpooling pilot with the developers behind mobile app uGoMyWay to connect drivers and passengers in the hope of reducing the number of vehicles in the city centre.
The TomTom research shows that there is a 71% increase in journey times during peak periods when compared to free-flowing travel times in Cape Town. Compounding matters is the fact that 79% of cars entering the CBD have only one person in the vehicle.
uGoMyWay allows users to create routine journeys such as home-to-work or home-to-school. Matches are then ranked and a chat function allows them to establish a dialogue before personal details are exchanged.
Once this has taken place, users decide who will drive and what the shared costs will be. As an additional safety measure, users can also request to be a part of a ring-fenced community, which includes only members of their specific workplace or school.
Chris Megan, co-founder of uGoMyWay, said over 90% of users who have joined the service have found matches, which can then result in carpooling. “Real-time ride-share technology has the greatest potential to help solve the traffic congestion on our roads,” Megan said in a statement.
Although the pilot is focused on Cape Town for now, the app is as available for use in other South African cities.
uGoMyWay works on both Android smartphones and iPhones. It allows users to connect with one another securely, discuss their trips and agree on a shared cost for the trip. Payment is handled through the app and settled monthly. The current recommended rate per kilometre is R1 and the distances are calculated automatically through the geo-location software built into the app. — © 2017 NewsCentral Media
