Barriers to Reducing the Carbon Footprint of Transportation Part 1: Support to the Clean Miles Standard Policy Making

Transportation Network Companies (TNCs), also referred to as ridehailing companies, have experienced rapid growth in the past decade. This report focuses on the quickly evolving transportation patterns resulting from the adoption of ridehailing as part of the efforts accompanying the implementation of the Clean Miles Standard (CMS) regulation. Based on the analysis of survey data collected in four California metropolitan regions before the COVID-19 pandemic, this report summarizes the findings from three studies, focusing on (1) the use of ridehailing among traveler groups with different multimodal travel patterns, (2) the substitution of ridehailing for other modes, and travel induced by ridehailing, and (3) the use of pooled ridehailing services, in which multiple passengers share the same vehicle for all or a portion of their trips. The results from these analyses reveal that transit users are more likely to be ridehailing users. Individuals without a household vehicle and identifying with an underrepresented minority group are more likely to use ridehailing for essential (rather than for discretionary trip) purposes. Over 50% of the ridehailing trips replaced a transit, active, or carpooling trip, or created new vehicle miles. Lower-income individuals, people of color, females, and younger individuals are more likely to choose pooled ridehailing over the single-user ridehailing service. Trips that originate in high-density areas are also more likely to be pooled. Furthermore, being a frequent ridehailing user is associated with greater use of pooled ridehailing, whereas not having to pay for a trip (e.g., a work-related trip paid for by an employer) reduces the likelihood of pooling.