An online car-sharing website has relieved many from the headache of buying a train ticket during the Spring Festival travel rush, attracting more than 100,000 applicants since it started on Jan 5.

The Beijing Morning Post said the jlfhome.com, a non-governmental online car-sharing platform which allows people who are going to the same destination to match, encourages people to share travel expenses by rewarding the first 100 car owners who sign up with a 1,000 yuan fuel subsidy.

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More than 12,000 people in Beijing alone have offered to provide a car or expressed the wish to have a ride by sharing other people's cars.

The first car owner and passengers who matched via the platform started their journey home on Sunday.

A man surnamed Mei, a car owner whose hometown is in Guangzhou, South China and works in Beijing, said he applied to join the car-sharing program soon after hearing about it because he "understands the hardship of driving a long way home" and wanted to find himself company.

Mei successfully found a couple who were also going to Guangzhou via the platform. They were planning to start their journey this weekend.

But law experts have warned people to be cautious in car sharing deals and encouraged people to sign a contract and buy themselves insurance before starting their journey in case unexpected disputes or accidents emerge.