Interest in express bus service and carpooling was low (10 to 20%) among commuters surveyed in a western suburb of honolulu, and thepotential time savings of high-occupancy-vehicle lanes offered little incentive for creating the latter. Interest in both alternatives rose in response to increasing parking costs. Interest in rail transit was 36% higher than interest in local bus service at a comparablefare (50 cents), and rail transit appears to be equally attractive to people who now carpool and to many solo drivers, as well. But carcommuters that explicitly object to carpooling (34.6% Of all commuters) as being too time-consuming and unreliable also resist using rail, and interest in rail drops to 21% among all commuters if the one-way fare is raised to $1. The most widely preferred alternative among all commuters was paratransit that provides better service and a guaranteed seat. Interest reached 91% for door-to-door service at a $1 fare; substantially lower interest was exhibited for rail transitthan paratransit, regardless of fare or access. These results suggest that if paratransit served the same area as a rail system, it could take at least two to four times more cars off the road than rail would. Because paratransit can serve wider areas at considerably less cost than rail--possibly at a profit--it is recommended that private providers be permitted to establish such service. The time has come to consider market solutions to transportation problems. This paper appears in transportation research record no. 1321, Rideshare programs: evaluation of effectiveness, trip reduction programs, demand management, and commuter attitudes 1991.
Abstract