Europe Loves Carpooling, Why Don’t We? [View all]

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from Transportation Nation:


Europe Loves Carpooling, Why Don’t We?
By Alex Goldmark | 04/20/2012 – 10:05 am


Even in the worst traffic jam, our roads are still mostly empty. That’s if you think about the car seats, not just the cars. For commutes, the average number of people per car in the U.S. was 1.1, according to 2008 data. That’s a lot of unused capacity.

Or, as Odile Beniflah sees it, a millions of idle assets, wasted resources. She is working to launch Carpooling.com in America. Europe’s largest ride sharing company used by 2 million people each month in 45 countries. And that’s just through one website. It’s cultural, she says. “People [share rides] first for the money, but they come back to it because they enjoy the experience, they enjoy the social aspect.”

The United States, on the other hand “has the largest network of empty seats on the planet.”

Eighty-six percent of people ride to work alone. Just 10 percent of Americans carpool to work, including family members who ride together, down from a peak of 19.7 percent in 1980. For reference, about 5 percent take transit, and some people alternate modes. ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://transportationnation.org/2012/04/20/europe-loves-carpooling-why-dont-we/