In stark contrast to transit use, carpool mode share is very consistent across metropolitan areas of different sizes. Not surprisingly, non-metropolitan region (rural) journey to work trips had a higher carpool share, as these commuters likely have longer commutes, have fewer transport options and are more likely to achieve cost savings from carpooling. Overall, this finding seems somewhat counterintuitive; one would have expected non-metro regions and large metro regions to have higher shares, as commuters in these areas are more likely to benefit from ridesharing through reduced fuel consumption and travel time savings. Although only speculation on our part, the lower-than-expected carpool mode share in large metro regions may be partly due to the larger transit service offerings.

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