The present us ride-sharing programme was initiated as an emergency measure during the 1973 crisis and, in the heat of the moment, perhaps rather over-zealous claims were made for its likely effectiveness within transport policy as a whole. The emergency conditions then prevailing precluded the establishment of an adequate monitoring framework. Attempts are now being made to establish the true impact of ride-sharing and to make realistic forecasts of its future effects. Perhaps the most important lesson to be learned from the us experience of organised ride-sharing is that unless petrol prices are raised dramatically, and in the absence of clear incentives, the reduced personal flexibility associated with organised ride-sharing schemes makes them an unattractive option to all but a minority of commuters. Differences between the USA and Britain, particularly in terms of car ownership and work journey characteristics, suggest that ride-sharing might fulfil a quite different role in Britain from that which it has in the us. Its major justification could well lie in an improvement in the operating environment of public transport (through skimming the peak load and providing basic mobility in small communities) rather than in its more widely publicised effects on energy consumption and road congestion. (Author/publisher)
Abstract