Incentives to Rideshare - What Would You Take?

For a lot of us, ridesharing is about saving the planet one empty car seat at a time. But various rideshare programs, corporate and government, have been disappointed enough in their user statistics (and under pressure to perform better) that they have begun to offer various incentives for carpooling.

WTOP, in the D.C. area, reported in June that Commuter Connections (Maryland) would begin paying commuters $2 every day that they carpool. The idea is that once people try it, they’ll like it and continue. This pilot program comes after another D.C. innovation, the “Bridge Bucks” program, which paid Woodrow Wilson Bridge commuters $50 a month to take public transportation or vanpools, which in turn was followed by a Department of Transportation version which hoped to lure commuters away from their cars during the time the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge was closed for repairs.

Many colleges offer staff and faculty incentives to take transit or rideshare by offering such motivators as a guaranteed ride home if you need one, subsidized rail or bus tickets, preferred parking and “bucks” that can be earned and spent on campus. Incentives need not be limited to carpoolers, but may encompass bicycle riders and pedestrians as well. Cities around the nation have chosen to recognize employer efforts at encouraging ridesharing and use of public transit and vanpools and some have even partnered to offer subsidies to start vanpools.

For people not working for a big company or government, the incentives are usually smaller or nonexistent. Commuters using the “Slug” method of carpooling just want to get where they're going. For the passenger it’s transportation. For the driver, it’s an opportunity to use the carpool lane. The once unwritten rules include no exchange of names and no speaking unless spoken to. Since the inception of this grassroots form of organized hitchhiking, there has been more and frequent discussion and voting at the slug line website about new slug line locations and the rules. And slugs can also search for items left behind in someone’s car. Slugs say it’s relatively safe because D.C. high-occupancy lanes require at least three people in a vehicle. You stand in line, get in a car, and hope for the best.

Yet, even with “casual commuting” there can be a pay off in social networking; after a while, slugs begin to recognize one another and see each other around town and this can lead to casual friendships, making the ride more enjoyable. And with the popularity of the forums and participation in conversation on the slug website, it seems as though even those willing to travel with others anonymously crave some sort of interaction. So maybe it isn’t all about economic incentives – employer brownie points or government statistics. Given a choice, probably most people would prefer to ride with a pleasant companion than sit in silence for an hour or so. Will incentives like being paid to take the bus or train or carpool make a dent in the growing traffic surrounding the city centers? Possibly. The $2 a day pay program by Commuter Connection is a pilot program ending in October. If it’s a success, it may spread to other cities. Or, if the traffic remains bad but not like D.C., it may not.

If you’re not ridesharing, what would it take to for you to start?

Would it take a reward program or the opportunity to exchange conversation and thereby make the ride shorter? Would it take confidence that you already know something about the person you’re travelling with because you’ve learned a bit about how close they match to your ideal trip partner? Would it be sufficient incentive to see your suggested match’s feedback ratings from other carpoolers? There is even the chance for those in the dating pool to meet other like-minded members in a low-key situation and “test drive” the relationship. ZoomPool offers these incentives. That’s pretty nice – especially if you would like to add ridesharing as a way to reduce your personal carbon footprint. In which case, ZoomPool might be less of an incentive and more of a reward. Why not try it? After all, the more people who join the community, the more rides will become available and the more the community can grow. In the end, that could be an incentive for everyone.

And for those of you who decide to upgrade to Certified membership with its additional personal safety filters, the reward includes participation in the ZoomstR Plus loyalty program, where shared miles accumulate toward gifts and discounts.