REGIONAL CARPOOL MATCHING SYSTEMS: A SIMULATION OF THE BOSTON EXPERIENCE

In August of 1973, WBZ, a Boston radio station, launched one of the nation's first regional carpooling programs in affiliation with the Automobile Legal Association (ALA), an auto and travel firm. The author explains that the motivation of these organisations in starting the program was to provide a useful service to their main public constituency, commuters, in the face of the impending fuel shortage which was to reach near-crisis proportions in New England during the winter of 1973-74. The concept of the program involved soliciting names and work-trip data from car commuters in eastern Massachusetts and matching them with others who had similar commuting characteristics so that they might form a carpool. Over a million questionnaires were distributed. The process of commuter matching is described and discussed, leading to important implications for carpooling policy-makers. The experience of such a low ratio of applications received, some 13000 leading to the matching of about 3800 people, for example could, it is felt, indicate commuter disinterest with regional carpooling programs. /TRRL/