As part of our research, the Real-Time Rides Workshop was hosted at MIT in April 2009. Participants included rideshare service providers, technology providers, the public sector and the academic community. The primary objective of the workshop was to facilitate discussion among the various rideshare stakeholders with the goal of developing strategies that both address barriers to rideshare participation, and promote the widespread implementation of ridesharing. Please visit the Real-Time Rides Workshop page for further details.
For those from the MIT community looking for rideshare / carpool opportunities, we encourage you to visit the MIT Facilities Commuting Options page.
We would like to thank Mike and Jenny Messner and their family foundation, The Speedwell Foundation, for their generous sponsorship of our research.
News / Updates
Last modified on 2009-12-15 17:06:49 GMT.
December 15, 2009
Before the holiday season pulls everyone away from their machines, I wanted to leave everyone with a quick reminder about an upcoming discussion on ridesharing. A session titled “Reinventing Carpooling to Meet Transportation’s Greatest Challenges” will take place at the 2010 Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting in Washington, DC on Sunday, January 10th. The session will take place from 1:30 – 4:30pm at the Marriott hotel. If you are planning on attending the TRB Annual Meeting, or are going to be in DC around that time, please plan on attending the session.
December 6, 2009
Several sections of the website have been updated including the Provider Database & References. A new section has been added (Rideshare@MIT) outlining some modeling work that is underway.
Over the next month, further updates to the History and Statistics and Rideshare@MIT sections should be posted, please check back.
November 27, 2009
Thought I would post a wonderful article about a group of young entrepreneurs from the DC area: Washington Post – McLean Boys Develop Website to Help Neighbors Share Rides. The buddy referral system and security background check are interesting characteristics. Hopefully some businesses in Tyson’s Corner will pick up on this and offer incentives to encourage participation.
July 30, 2009
The much anticipated “Moving Cooler” report from Cambridge Systematics was released two days ago and had some interesting results on ridesharing’s potential to reduce GHG emissions and energy consumption. Their modeling suggested that ridesharing was an attractive non-pricing strategy to reduce GHG emissions and could account for 0.5 – 2.0% fuel savings nationwide, depending on the level of deployment.
July 1, 2009
Two New Resources Posted:
1. One of the Real-Time Rides Workshop participants, Paul Minett, has submitted a TCRP Proposal for consideration and potential funding. The proposal is titled, “How Can Carpooling/Vanpooling Complement Transit Services, to Reduce SOV Travel?” and can be found here.
2. The Executive Summary of Cambridge Systematics’ much anticipated “Moving Cooler” report on strategies to address GHG emissions from the transport sector is expected to be released later this month. Initial modeling suggested carpooling could reduce US GHG emissions by 1% per year, with conservative assumptions. Cambridge Systematics has since tested a number of different combinations of strategies which we expect will show larger reduction potential.
June 30, 2009
Several of Updates:
1. ITS America Congestion Challenge – The goal of the challenge is to identify the “best ideas to solve congestion, improve mobility, the environment and public safety.” Proposals can be in any stage of development (concept through revenue generating service). Registration is open until August 1, 2009 I believe. In August, the top 9 entries will be selected and the winner will be announced in September. The winning prize is $50,000 USD.
2. Atlantic Monthly Piece on Dynamic Ridesharing – Atlantic Monthly’s June 2009 edition had a small piece on dynamic ridesharing titled, “How to End Traffic in Los Angeles”.
May 10, 2009
The Workshop Summary has now been posted to the website. It can be found along with all of the other workshop information on the Real-Time Rides page.
April 14, 2009
A comprehensive version of the agenda with locations has been posted. We’ve also provided more detail on how to find Building 1 on the first day of the workshop. All of this information can be found on the Real-Time Rides Workshop page.