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Estimating the Energy Consumption Impact of Casual Carpooling

Author

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  • Paul Minett

    (Co-Founder and Managing Director, Trip Convergence Ltd /17/130 Great South Road, Epsom, Auckland 1051, New Zealand)

  • John Pearce

    (Co-Founder and Director, Trip Convergence Ltd / 276A Victoria Street, Remuera, Auckland 1050, New Zealand)

Abstract

Some of the transportation energy consumed during peak commuter periods is wasted through slow running in congested traffic. Strategies to increase average vehicle occupancy (and reduce vehicle counts and congestion) could be expected to be at the forefront of energy conservation policies. Casual carpooling (also called “slugging”) is a system of carpooling without trip-by-trip pre-arrangement. It operates in three US cities, and has been suggested in New Zealand as a strategy for managing transportation challenges when oil prices rise. The objective of the paper is to find out if casual carpooling reduces energy consumption, and if so, how much. Energy consumption by single occupant vehicles; casual carpool vehicles; and a mix of buses and single occupant vehicles; are estimated and compared, and the impact on the rest of the traffic is calculated. The paper estimates that casual carpooling in San Francisco is conserving in the order of 1.7 to 3.5 million liters of gasoline per year, or 200-400 liters for each participant, much of which comes from the impact on the rest of the traffic. The paper concludes by calling for applied research to discover how to catalyze casual carpooling in other cities as a means of reducing transportation energy consumption.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Minett & John Pearce, 2011. "Estimating the Energy Consumption Impact of Casual Carpooling," Energies, MDPI, vol. 4(1), pages 1-14, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:4:y:2011:i:1:p:126-139:d:10939
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Barth, Matthew & Boriboonsomsin, Kanok, 2008. "Real-World CO2 Impacts of Traffic Congestion," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt4fx9g4gn, University of California Transportation Center.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. José Alberto Molina & J. Ignacio Giménez-Nadal & Jorge Velilla, 2020. "Sustainable Commuting: Results from a Social Approach and International Evidence on Carpooling," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-12, November.
    2. Shaheen, Susan & Cohen, Adam, 2018. "Shared ride services in North America: definitions, impacts, and the future of pooling," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt2wr9q8c2, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    3. Echeverría, Lucía & Gimenez-Nadal, José Ignacio & Molina, José Alberto, 2021. "Carpooling: User Profiles and Well-being," IZA Discussion Papers 14736, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Shaheen, Susan PhD & Cohen, Adam, 2018. "Impacts of Shared Mobility: Pooling," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt3s53f1cx, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    5. Anne Aguiléra & Eléonore Pigalle, 2021. "The Future and Sustainability of Carpooling Practices. An Identification of Research Challenges," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-16, October.
    6. Shaheen, Susan A. & Chan, Nelson D. & Gaynor, Teresa, 2016. "Casual carpooling in the San Francisco Bay Area: Understanding user characteristics, behaviors, and motivations," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 165-173.
    7. María del Carmen Rey-Merchán & Antonio López-Arquillos & Manuela Pires Rosa & Jesús Manuel Gómez-de-Gabriel, 2022. "Proposal for an Institutional Carpooling System among Workers from the Public-Education Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-10, November.
    8. Rezwana Rafiq & Suman Kumar Mitra, 2020. "Shared school transportation: determinants of carpooling as children’s school travel mode in California," Transportation, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 1339-1357, June.
    9. Yu, Biying & Ma, Ye & Xue, Meimei & Tang, Baojun & Wang, Bin & Yan, Jinyue & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2017. "Environmental benefits from ridesharing: A case of Beijing," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 141-152.
    10. Thomas Levermore & M. Necip Sahinkaya & Yahya Zweiri & Ben Neaves, 2016. "Real-Time Velocity Optimization to Minimize Energy Use in Passenger Vehicles," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-18, December.
    11. Gheorghiu, Alexandra & Delhomme, Patricia, 2018. "For which types of trips do French drivers carpool? Motivations underlying carpooling for different types of trips," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 460-475.
    12. Liu, Xiaobing & Yan, Xuedong & Liu, Feng & Wang, Rui & Leng, Yan, 2019. "A trip-specific model for fuel saving estimation and subsidy policy making of carpooling based on empirical data," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 240(C), pages 295-311.
    13. Maria La Gennusa & Patrizia Ferrante & Barbara Lo Casto & Gianfranco Rizzo, 2015. "An Integrated Environmental Indicator for Urban Transportation Systems: Description and Application," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-19, October.
    14. Girod, Bastien & van Vuuren, Detlef P. & de Vries, Bert, 2013. "Influence of travel behavior on global CO2 emissions," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 183-197.
    15. María del Carmen Rey-Merchán & Antonio López-Arquillos & Manuela Pires Rosa, 2022. "Carpooling Systems for Commuting among Teachers: An Expert Panel Analysis of Their Barriers and Incentives," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-12, July.
    16. Bilong Shen & Weimin Zheng & Kathleen M. Carley, 2018. "Urban Activity Mining Framework for Ride Sharing Systems Based on Vehicular Social Networks," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 705-734, September.
    17. Zolnik, Edmund J., 2015. "The effect of gasoline prices on ridesharing," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 47-58.

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