The money, worked out
Take an example commute: a cab costs ₹350 each way, and you work 22 days a month. That's 44 trips.
| Sharing with | You pay a month | You save a month |
|---|---|---|
| Nobody | ₹15,400 | – |
| 1 other person | ₹7,700 | ₹7,700 |
| 2 others | ₹5,133 | ₹10,267 |
| 3 others | ₹3,850 | ₹11,550 |
For your own commute: monthly saving = fare per trip × trips a month × (1 − 1 ÷ number of riders).
Real life is a little messier. Some days you'll ride alone, and a full cab sometimes needs a bigger car. Even so, sharing only on the days it works out adds up quickly.
The CO₂, worked out
When three people share one cab instead of taking three, two cabs stay off the road for the whole trip. Sobat counts 120 g of CO₂ for every kilometre a cab drives. That's close to what India's fuel-efficiency rules allow new cars on average, and on the conservative side, since stop-and-go city traffic usually burns more.
Example. A 15 km commute by road, shared by three people:
- Each trip avoids 2 cabs × 15 km × 0.12 kg = 3.6 kg of CO₂
- Over 44 trips a month: about 158 kg for the group, roughly 53 kg each
- A tree takes up roughly 22 kg of CO₂ a year, so each person's month of sharing is like 2.4 trees working for a whole year
The traffic
Cabs carrying one person are a big part of why commutes crawl. Two of the world's five most congested cities in 2025 were in India, according to the TomTom Traffic Index, and road vehicles produce about 90% of India's transport CO₂, according to WRI India. Every shared cab is one or two cars fewer at the signal.
How to start sharing your commute
- Find people on your route: colleagues in your building, neighbours in your society, your office's WhatsApp groups.
- Pick one meeting point everyone can walk to in a few minutes.
- Fix a time window, say 9:00 to 9:15, so nobody waits long.
- Agree how you'll split before the first ride. Our fare-splitting guide has the options.
- Put it on Sobat. Start a ride for your time and share its link in your group; anyone searching your route sees it too. You choose how far you'll walk to meet: 5, 10, 15 or 20 minutes.
Sobat shows the CO₂ each shared ride saved and keeps a running total for you.