Easy share is a new approach to car pooling using technology to enable instant trip matching at any time. The proposed scheme provides a low cost convenient and flexible transport alternative. A radical change in car occupancy, through a scheme that makes ride sharing socially attractive, can bring about a change in vehicle utilisation with a beneficial effect on emissions and fuel consumption, promising increased efficiency of urban travel and greater social cohesion. The size of the easy share scheme membership was determined from a model, using an 80 percent matching success rate, and was found to be 150.000 participating drivers/passengers for a city the size of melbourne. Among the ten important ten important factors determining success were ease of use, reliability and convenience, and type of driver. Car pooling was found to be almost as good as the private car in terms of low perceived risk, without the added security of easy share. A survey found 44 percent of melbourne drivers desired to join the scheme. (A)
Abstract