BEIRUT: The American University of Beirut Greenpeace Club has launched an innovative carpooling scheme, hoping to ease congestion around the institution and to raise awareness of green issues.Around 8,000 students and 800 faculty members go to AUB every day, and with a lack of sufficient public transport alternatives, more than 3,000 cars come in to and leave area around the campus each day, according to a commuting survey conducted by AUB and the Greenpeace club.

Erik Zakhia, a third year mechanical engineering student and president of the Greenpeace AUB Club, which is independent from the national branch of the global environmental NGO, came up with the idea when he saw that the faculty of engineers at the University of Saint Joseph were trying a similar thing, on a smaller scale.

Working with the founder of goaub.com, an online portal for students, Zakhia created a system whereby the AUB community can log in securely, either to offer to be a driver, or to look for rides. Users can view a Google map of available rides that day, and contact the driver through the site to ask for a lift, or arrange journeys.

“Hamra and the AUB surroundings suffer from terrible traffic congestion and lack of parking places,” Zakhia said. “I wished to target these points in an awareness campaign through the club, but didn’t know how. It is meaningless to ask people ‘not to take their car’ without offering a solution.” The carpooling scheme shows people “that buying a car isn’t the unique solution.”

Currently, AUB staff have free parking, with students paying an average of LL100,000 a month on transportation, the commuting survey showed.

The organizers suggest that drivers and passengers arrange their own systems of payment, as Zakhia said, “We find it much easier if driver and passenger agree between themselves, without imposing rigid rules, as some carpooling websites do.”