The Bay Area’s economic surge has brought unprecedented traffic congestion to our region, or so the theory goes. But what is really causing all the congestion is that the vast majority of cars are driving around with just one “solo” driver. Indeed, carpooling has declined over the past few decades as office locations have scattered.
It explains why it is so crucial that we foster new technologies that can break down the barriers that make carpooling difficult: the complicated logistics and financial transactions.
This week, the California Public Utilities Commission has the chance to support a potential renaissance in carpooling by enabling the most affordable ride-sharing services to continue to innovate.
New app-based ride-sharing methods are coming out by the month. The two most well-known services that allow a customer to share a ride with another customer are Lyft Line and UberPOOL.
When you have lots of passengers sharing rides, you will see lower fares and more frequent, reliable service. Since launching in 2014, both Lyft and Uber report more than half of their rides in San Francisco are rides shared by different passengers. Many rides are “triple matches” where three different people share the vehicle for at least part of the journey. “Quadruple matches” are emerging as well.
And there are other companies filling different niches. Scoop is an app-based service that may revive carpooling on trips to and from work.
Our cities are grappling with growing traffic congestion, long commutes, poor air quality and rising costs of living. These burdens are shouldered disproportionately by the poorest Californians. Public transportation will continue to be the critical backbone of sustainable transportation, especially in more urbanized areas. Yet harnessing the popularity of high-occupancy ride-sharing can be a critical complement.
The specific issue before the PUC is whether to allow ride-sharing companies, the so-called “transportation network companies,” to continue to charge different fares to passengers based on the time and distance of their travel, a prerequisite for enabling carpools to become economically viable.
In other words, a ruling against this innovation would mean these carpooling services would be discontinued — forcing us back to spending more money to ride these services alone.
TransForm welcomes the PUC’s indication that it will allow split fares for shared rides and, also, that it will assess the impact of transportation network companies on carpooling rates. These are smart steps toward understanding whether app-enabled ride-sharing can curb traffic and greenhouse gas emissions. The analysis should be comprehensive and objective, with oversight by academic experts.
The Legislature also has an important role to play. By updating state law to provide complete clarity that shared rides are legal, legislators can assure Californians have a more affordable alternative to riding solo.
In the meantime, TransForm urges the PUC to adopt forward-looking ride-sharing regulation that support fare splitting and carpools. We need more innovation and data to open a new path for sustainable transportation.
Stuart Cohen is the Executive Director of TransForm, a nonprofit promoting transportation choices. He wrote this for the Mercury News.
