EVALUATION OF THE MINNEAPOLIS RIDESHARING COMMUTER SERVICES DEMONSTRATION

The Total Commuter Services Demonstration (Share-A-Ride Program) was initiated by the Metropolitan Transit Commission in 1977 as a prototype transportation brokerage program designed to arrange alternatives to driving alone for commuters. The program promoted and coordinated services for carpooling, vanpooling, and bus commuting at selected employment sites in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. This Share-A-Ride program has been designed to be a permanent, ongoing program, characterized by: 1) intensive marketing efforts aimed at employers/employees at selected sites; 2) matching services for carpool, vanpool, and bus information applicants; 3) follow-up assistance with carpool/vanpool formation; and 4) administration of a fleet of leased vans. This report presents the final evaluation of the operations and impacts of a ridesharing brokerage program aimed at multi-employer suburban work sites in the Minneapolis metropolitan area. This evaluation report is based mainly on the project events occuring during the first two operational years of the program, November 1977-October 1979. A unique aspect of this demonstration was its focus on multi-employer work sites in non-downtown locations. The demonstration showed that these sites represent an important market for ridesharing. It also demonstrated the difficulty of engaging participation from small firms. Share-A-Ride tested a number of new program features including a variety of marketing strategies, a manual matching technique, a telephone brokerage technique, and the use of private contractors for marketing and vanpool services. This report serves as a guide to others. (UMTA)