New Delhi, Aug 6 - For the Indian capital, where two million car owners use 60 percent of road space but meet only 20 percent of commuting demand, here comes a smart decongestion plan - a mega carpool that harnesses the latest in technology.

The Delhi government plans to launch the Pan City Mega Carpool Scheme before the Commonwealth Games 2010.

The ride sharing scheme designed in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT-D), aims to provide a simple way to encourage car owners to share their vehicles with other car owners, thereby resulting in fewer cars on city roads.

'A scheme has been developed to decongest the city roads before the Commonwealth Games. The proposal has been accepted by Lt. Governor of Delhi Tejendra Khanna and some nodal agencies,' A.K. Srivastava, assistant director, Delhi transport department, told IANS.

The Delhi government has proposed to enrol thousands of car owners, subject to verification of their credentials, into a single mega carpool and issue the members secure, smart identity cards as well.

'The cars of all members will be fitted with a special hardware device comprising of a card reader, global positioning system (GPS) and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS). The device can read the smart card based photo identity card of a member, sense the location of the car and transmit this data digitally to a central agency,' he said.

The rider is only required to tap the smart ID card at the beginning as well as the end of the ride and all the information regarding the driver and the rider would be sent to the central server.

'A member of the carpool scheme may give a ride to any of the enrolled members who have a common or along-the-way travel destination. By giving rides, the member will earn mileage points which can be redeemed as cash or family members can avail of them by using the car pools,' said Srivastava.

The scheme plans to reduce traffic congestion and vehicular pollution by 50 percent or more.

In addition, it supplements the public transport system and provides significant diversification benefit against any disruption in public transport due to a terrorist attack or labour unrest.