The purpose of this paper is to describe a demonstration program that has been successful in increasing high-occupancy-vehicle (HOV) use among a small group of program participants. The guaranteed ride home program, developed by the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle, reimburses eligible HOV users for a fixed number of miles of travel to or from work using taxis. The 6-month demonstration project was tested in two distinct areas of Bellevue, Washington, a suburban activity centre, starting in September 1987. The objectives of the initial phase were to assess interest in the program, test program procedures for efficient operation, and determine if the program increased HOV use. Major findings of the first phase of the evaluation were that (a) registrants increased their HOV use by 12 percent, (b) 69 percent of the registrants felt the program was important in their decision to continue to rideshare, (c) participants saved their mileage allotment for unanticipated emergency use, and (d) the program was relatively inexpensive to operate.
Abstract