Citation

Fricker JD. Transp. Res. Rec. 1986; 1082: 34-40.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1986, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The extra distance that a member of a carpool travels, compared with that person's drive-alone distance between home and work, is one of the negative aspects of ridesharing. It is also the key value in calculating the amount of fuel saved by those choosing this commuter mode. Among several proposed methods of quantifying this extra distance, or circuity factor (CF), the most commonly used is the ratio of ridesharing distance to drive-alone distance, which is called the circuity ratio (CR) in this paper. The CR-value most commonly used is the ratio 1.15, but this value is neither well documented nor up-to-date. A detailed examination of the CR-values experienced by 206 individuals who share rides in or to a small urban area is described in this paper. The CR-values were found to have a mean value lower than the long-accepted value (1.071 versus 1.15) and a standard deviation much smaller (0.154) than expected. These findings have several; applications: (a) they permit more accurate calculations of fuel savings associated with mode shifts involving ridesharing under current conditions, (b) they define a standard aganist which circuity values in times of energy shortages can be compared, and (c) they provide data in sufficient detail to allow subsequent studies to examine and explain differences in circuity components found in other times and places.

Language: en

Keywords

TRANSPORTATION; URBAN PLANNING - Transportation; VEHICLES - Fuel Economy