The concept of offering a "Guaranteed Ride Home" (GRH) to employees in case of emergencies to maintain and encourage ridesharing andtransit use has grown in popularity among transportation managementassociations and single employers during the past few years, especially in Southern California. The Warner Center Transportation Management Organization was one of the first organizations to design and offer such a service to its entire membership as early as 1989. To date, there has been little information on the impact of GRH services in maintaining and recruiting solo drivers for alternative forms of transportation such as carpooling, vanpooling, buspooling, and public transit. The study identifies 600 employees who began carpooling, vanpooling, or riding a bus during the past year and indicated that the GRH service most influenced their decision to do so. In addition, 50 percent of those surveyed said that the GRH service was important in their decision to rideshare or take transit. Furthermore, a majority of management believe that the service is a vital part of their overall rideshare incentive package. Overall costs, usage, and responsiveness of the service are also identified. The conclusion reached is that this service costs very little, was used very little, but was abused very little. However, it successfully removed an important roadblock to ridesharing and transit use by converting a significant number of solo drivers. (A)
Abstract