Evaluation of a Carpooling Program in a University Setting Using a Stated Preference Survey

Carpooling is the easiest and most common form of ridesharing and is considered as one of the imperative factors in tomorrow’s sustainable transportation. The carpooling concept existed since World War II as a result of oil and rubber shortages. Nowadays, carpooling is extensively used throughout the United States for travel cost reduction (e.g. tolls, fuel), for non-renewable energy resources conservation, greenhouse gas emissions reduction, and roadway and parking capacity concerns. City, State, and Federal agencies in the U.S. strive to manage travel demand and reduce Vehicle Mile Travel (VMT) by continuing to provide a wide range of incentives for commuters to carpool. However, the success of carpooling programs is “case-specific” and relies on several criteria; such as, commuters safety and security, perception of own-safety and own-security, ride convenience, ride comfort, carpooling reliability, and carpooling flexibility. Recently, Universities around the United Stated (e.g., Georgetown University, UC Berkley, UC Irvine, etc.) adopted carpooling programs as means of managing traffic and parking demand on campuses. In the spring of 2010, the University of Central Florida became the second largest university in the nation in student enrollment. As a result, and in efforts to manipulate the amount of vehicles on campus, UCF implemented a campus wide ridesharing program with a company called “Zimride”. This paper evaluates the “Zimride” ridesharing program using a stated preference survey created with Google Docs and distributed to students through their campus email. Using Explanatory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), stated-preference (SP) survey results indicated that current travel behavior significantly influences attitudes towards carpooling and demographics have a significant effect on current travel behavior.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ABE50 Transportation Demand Management. Alternate title: Evaluation of Carpooling Program in University Setting Using Stated-Preference Survey
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • DeFrancisco, Joseph
  • Harb, Rami
  • Radwan, Essam
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 93rd Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC
  • Date: 2014-1-12 to 2014-1-16
• Date: 2014

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 23p
• Monograph Title: TRB 93rd Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Carpools; Ridesharing; Stated preferences; Sustainable transportation; Travel costs; Universities and colleges; Vehicle miles of travel
• Identifier Terms: University of Central Florida, Orlando
• Geographic Terms: United States
• Subject Areas: Highways; Planning and Forecasting; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01516817
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 14-0730
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 4 2014 11:34AM