U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
202-366-4000
Federal Highway Administration Research and Technology
Coordinating, Developing, and Delivering Highway Transportation Innovations
REPORT |
This report is an archived publication and may contain dated technical, contact, and link information |
Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-12-053 Date: November 2012 |
Publication Number:
FHWA-HRT-12-053
Date: November 2012 |
PDF files can be viewed with the Acrobat® Reader®
The Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA’s) Exploratory Advanced Research (EAR) Program addresses the need to conduct longer term and higher risk breakthrough research with the potential for transformational improvements to plan, build, renew, and operate safe, congestion free, and environmentally sound transportation systems. The program addresses underlying gaps faced by applied highway research programs, anticipates emerging issues with national implications, and reflects broad transportation industry goals and objectives.
During November and December 2010, the EAR Program supported a team that consisted of transportation professionals, academic faculty, and business entrepreneurs who visited informal carpool lines (also called slug lines or casual carpool lines) in Washington, DC; Houston, TX; and San Francisco, CA, to observe “slugs” and to compare practices among locations. The team also met with private ride–match providers, regional planners, carpool participants, and transportation planners and engineers, with the overall goal of studying these ridesharing systems to evaluate whether to fund research on the potential for and value of expansion or replication.
Robert E. Arnold |
Debra S. Elston |
Notice
This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The U.S. Government assumes no liability for the use of the information contained in this document.
The U.S. Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trademarks or manufacturers’ names appear in this report only because they are considered essential to the objective of the document.
Quality Assurance Statement
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) provides high-quality information to serve Government, industry, and the public in a manner that promotes public understanding. Standards and policies are used to ensure and maximize the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of its information. FHWA periodically reviews quality issues and adjusts its programs and processes to ensure continuous quality improvement.
Technical Report Documentation Page
1. Report No.
FHWA-HRT-12-053 |
2. Government Accession No. | 3 Recipient's Catalog No. | ||
4. Title and Subtitle
Casual Carpooling Scan Report |
5. Report Date November 2012 |
|||
6. Performing Organization Code | ||||
7. Author(s)
M. Burris, E. Christopher, P. DeCorla-Souza, A. Greenberg, S. Heinrich, J. Morris, M. Oliphant, E. Schreffler, P. Valk, P. Winters |
8. Performing Organization Report No.
|
|||
9. Performing Organization Name and Address Office of Transportation Management |
10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS) |
|||
11. Contract or Grant No. | ||||
12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address
|
13. Type of Report and Period Covered
Scan Report, November 17–December 8, 2010 |
|||
14. Sponsoring Agency Code HRTM-30 |
||||
15. Supplementary Notes FHWA’s Contracting Officer’s Task Manager (COTM): Zachary Ellis, HRTM-30 |
||||
16. Abstract
During November and December 2010, the Exploratory Advanced Research (EAR) Program supported a team that consisted of transportation professionals, academic faculty, and business entrepreneurs who visited informal carpool lines (also called slug lines or casual carpool lines) in Washington, DC; Houston, TX; and San Francisco, CA, to observe “slugs” and to compare practices among locations. The team also met with private ride–match providers, regional planners, carpool participants, and transportation planners and engineers with the overall goal of studying these ridesharing systems. The foundational knowledge gained on this scan will serve as a jumping-off point for future projects, collaborations, and system expansion. Appendix B to this report is published as FHWA-HRT-13-023, Appendix B to the Casual Carpooling Report. |
||||
17. Key Words
Alternative Commuting, Carpooling, Casual Carpooling, Dynamic Ridesharing, Electronic Slugging, Flexible Carpooling, Informal Carpools, Ride Matching, Ridesharing, Ridesharing Systems, Slugging, Slugs. |
18. Distribution Statement
No restrictions. This document is available to the public through the National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA 22161. |
|||
19. Security Classification Unclassified |
20. Security Classification Unclassified |
21. No. of Pages 35 |
22. Price N/A |
Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72) | Reproduction of completed page authorized |
SI* (Modern Metric) Conversion Factors
Washington, DC, November 17–19, 2010
Houston, TX, December 5–6, 2010
San Francisco, CA, December 7–8, 2010
Observations and Lessons Learned from All Cities
Dynamic Ridesharing: Experts and Researchers
Appendix A: Working Schedule of Each Scan Visit
About the Exploratory Advanced Research Program
Table 1. Scan team participants.
Table 2. Summary of scan member participation.
Table 3. Working Schedule for Washington, DC, Scan.
Table 4. Working Schedule for Houston, TX, and San Francisco, CA, Scans.
Figure 2. A slug enters a vehicle at Horner Road Park-and-Ride lot in Prince William County, VA.
Figure 3. A driver holds up a sign indicating his or her destination.
Figure 5. Slugs lined up at Potomac Mills parking lot with vehicles approaching from the right side.
Figure 6. A vehicle waits for slugs at the Kingsland Park-and-Ride lot in suburban Houston, TX.
Figure 9. View of limited-access westbound HOV lane on the Northwest Freeway outside of Houston, TX.