Riding Together: Eliciting Travelers’ Preferences for Long-Distance Carpooling

Pré-publication, Document de travail: Most seats in private cars are empty when drivers hit the road. Carpooling could thus represent a low-cost strategy to reduce carbon emissions in the transportation sector. Using revealed preference data from actual long-distance carpooling trips in France, we estimate passengers' preferences for the different characteristics of a ride. We find that passengers are highly price-elastic and value significantly the convenience of pick-up and drop-off locations. In contrast, their value of time once in the car is significantly lower than typical reference values. Finally, we discuss the effectiveness of a number of counterfactual policies aimed at promoting carpooling.

Auteur(s)

Nicolas Astier, Pierre-François Bouquet, Xavier Lambin

Date de publication
  • 2023
Mots-clés JEL
L14 L91 R41
Mots-clés
  • Revealed preferences
  • Carpooling
  • Long-distance transportation
  • Value of time
  • Sharing economy
Version
  • 1