Has Carpooling Really Grown ? Evolutions of Carpooling in France from 1974 to 2008.

Abstract:

Several sets of questions will be adressed : to what extent has formal carpooling reduced informal carpooling ? Who are the pooled drivers ? Which are their motivations of pooled drivers ? What are the most frequently shared routes? Why are they so frequently shared ? In what way does the current practice of intermediated car-sharing hamper the development of other modes of carpooling? How can we better understand these practices?
We use two French national representative surveys : the serie of the French National Transportation Surveys, conducted in 1974, 1993 and 2008, and an original panel survey, named Lifestyle and Environnement. From 1974 to 2008, the databases extracted from the French National Transportation Surveys will allow us to measure the incidence of the different types of carpooling and identify its users, by describing their socio-demographic profiles and the characteristics of their (shared) trips. The Lifestyle and Environnement survey, currently conducted through a representative French panel, is able to identify both the incidence and the (ecological and economical) motivations of carpooling. In the same time, we will present the first results of CONDUIRE project, based on hypotheses constructed by a lexicometric analysis of the issue at the national level, and feedback from experiences and excerpts of user interviews encountered during a survey in Loire-Atlantique.