Yes, carpooling went down drastically from 1980-90 and obviously not as dramatic from 1990-2000. We had over 23% JTW trips by carpool in 1980 Nationwide! 1990 it was down to just over 13% (Nationwide).

I would argue that given the economic condition in 1990 (beaten down) vs. 2000 (just when the .com bubble was to burst but still upbeat) - losses in carpooling and transit are not as significant.

Comparing 1995 NPTS and Census 2000 I have the following to offer:

· Trip chaining (the part that goes with JTW) is up during 1990s (NPTS)

· Huge buy-in in favor of ‘flex schedules’ during 1990s has essentially marginalized the significance of JTW (there was a drop of more than 5% from 1990 to 1995 in peak hour trip starts in our case)

· Each trip taken by transit would have a front end and a back end trip – (park & ride or ride & walk) – Census asks for only one mode that covered most of the distance (is comparable to 1990) thereby undercounting all other trips;

· Vehicle occupancy rate for HBW is a little bit different from what JTW indicates for the same reason as above – our HBW VOR is less than what census shows (Tulsa)

Another factor – I have noticed with NPTS is – Women as a percent of peak hour commuting public is higher than for men (13.6% men vs. 19.7% women in 1995 for Tulsa). It could be because women tend to keep more regular hours than men. May be ‘Rideshare’ programs should focus on Women-only carpools as a potential market share.

Whatever it may be, we might notice with CTPP an increase in share of women in commuting during peak hours – to somewhat contributing to the erosion in transit patronage, decline in carpooling and increase in commute times.

Viplav Putta

INCOG