The idea for EgyptCarpoolers.com was conceived on the 26th of July Corridor (more commonly known as "El Me7war"). One of the founders realized, while stuck in traffic 3al Me7war everyday on his way to work in Lebanon Square from Sheikh Zayed City and back, that most of the traffic was made up of cars with only one passenger. Why, even he himself was riding in a car on his own! He asked himself: "why don't people carpool?" Carpooling would reduce traffic, save money and even help the environment.

The answer was very simple. There was no means of communication to connect carpoolers together. The only way someone can carpool is through co-workers or friends. But what if your co-workers or friends don't live/work near you? Perhaps there is someone out there who not only lives near you but also works near where you work. Wouldn't that be a great opportunity to carpool? But how can you find that person? Hence, a carpooling website.

Once we started to research the idea, we were amazed at the number of carpooling websites already up and running. Almost every sizable country had one, except Egypt. This was good news for us, because at least the model had proven itself in other parts of the world. The question now was: will it work in Egypt? At first, some of the partners were skeptical. We were worried about issues related to safety and cultural differences. So we came up with ideas to increase trust between potential carpoolers. Some of these ideas are:

• You have to be registered to use the website
• A detailed user profile (optional)
• A carpool ratings and reviews system
• You can only register on this site if you're above 18

We believe that our built-in safeguards, plus exercising sensible precautions when using the website (see the section on Safety Tips) will eliminate most risks and allow users to fully enjoy the benefits of carpooling.