NATIONAL RIDESHARING DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM: COMPARATIVE EVALUATION REPORT

The report evaluates 17 projects of the National Ridesharing Demonstration Program, with detailed analysis of five sites where a workplace survey was conducted--Atlanta, Cincinnati, Houston, Portland, and Seattle. Among the topics covered are project background, description, implementation, obstacles to project development, the market for ridesharing, the impact of ridesharing programs, and the effectiveness of promotional techniques. Evaluators found that the primary market for ridesharing appears to be multi-worker households with one car, living relatively far from the work site. Most commuter carpools were found to consist of informal arrangements between household members or fellow workers. The proportion of employees ridesharing and carpool size were found to increase with firm size. No relationship was found between "flextime" and ridesharing. The need to pay for parking at work was seen to have a low impact on ridesharing mode split, but the impact varied with transit service quality. Although area ridesharing programs contacted a high proportion of firms, the share of employees actually receiving program materials was found to be much lower. The impact of area ridesharing programs on commuter travel behavior could not be conclusively determined from NRDP data, but the direct impact seemed to be small. Neighborhood-based ridesharing promotion did not appear to be an effective alternative to employer marketing programs.

• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Systems Center

  55 Broadway, Kendall Square
  Cambridge, MA  United States  02142

  Urban Mass Transportation Administration

  400 7th Street, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Booth, R
  • Waksman, R
• Publication Date: 1985-8

Media Info

• Pagination: 188 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Automobile ownership; Carpools; Employers; Households; Marketing; Publicity; Ridesharing; Travel behavior; Work trips
• Identifier Terms: Urban Mass Transportation Act
• Old TRIS Terms: Umta section 6
• Subject Areas: Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Society; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00455180
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: HS-039 411, DOT-TSC-UMTA-85-17
• Contract Numbers: MA-06-0049
• Files: HSL, TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: May 31 1990 12:00AM