Design of an Express Carpooling System for the Border Region

The increasing amount of single occupancy vehicles (SOVs) in the U.S. metropolitan area transportation infrastructure has raised mobility and environmental concerns from local transportation authorities. Transportation agencies and professionals are constantly challenged to improve traffic mobility and/or promote carpooling. Efforts to achieve this include mplementing high occupancy vehicles (HOVs) or carpooling programs where a pre-determined schedule is required to match carpoolers. Researchers proposed a flexible carpooling program to help alleviate traffic congestion in El Paso and developed an evaluation procedure to determine the feasibility of such a program. This procedure includes (1) conducting a literature review to document the strengths and weaknesses of a flexible carpooling program; (2) exploring common operational models to identify advantages and disadvantages; (3) analyzing current available transportation modes in El Paso; (4) developing and distributing a survey among students at University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and El Paso Community College (EPCC) to determine the feasibility of a dynamic carpooling program; and (5) evaluating a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis and showing both the positive and negative aspects of implementing a dynamic ridesharing system in El Paso. Implementing a dynamic rideshare service could face institutional challenges that could impact its appeal in the region, including defining appropriate roles from both the public and private sectors to encourage ride share as a safe and viable commuting mode. When properly implemented with the cooperation of the public and private sectors, a dynamic rideshare program could provide local students with another environmentally friendly commuting option in the border region.