Share(d) Image - Understanding and Improving the Road User's Perception of Ride Sharing

Below you will find a short summary of the project. For further information please contact the project managers via the contact button on the right side.

Driving pleasure and driving experience as a function of the means of transport chosen (Bier et al. 2018)
Driving pleasure and driving experience as a function of the means of transport chosen (Bier et al. 2018)

Background

The average occupancy rate of private cars is only 1.5 persons/vehicle (BMVI, 2018), which leads to a high volume of traffic in everyday life, combined with traffic jams and overcrowded parking spaces as well as a high burden on the environment. At the same time, people without a vehicle of their own are restricted or even isolated by non-existent, complicated or excessively busy public transport connections. New solutions must increase the occupancy rate of cars in order to reduce the total number of cars and also increase overall mobility. Ride sharing services offer a solution that is not entirely new from the basic idea. Ride sharing is understood to mean the transport of passengers in a motor vehicle if this transport corresponds to the main purpose of the person travelling, namely to reach a destination and not to carry passengers for profit.

Aims

The aim was to increase interest and willingness to use ride-sharing services by identifying the reservations of current and potential users of ride-sharing services about sharing their own vehicle and taking a ride with other people and vehicles, and to provide recommendations for action to reduce these barriers to use.

Method

In an exploratory survey, current and potential users of ride-sharing services were interviewed about barriers to use and hypotheses were derived. These were validated in a subsequent confirmatory survey (online and paper questionnaires) and design recommendations were derived from them. Finally, the implemented design recommendations were evaluated on a prototype by means of a survey.

Results

The results were the identified acceptance and usage barrier factors for ride-sharing services. These were presented in targeted recommendations for action and provide a basis for increasing interest in and willingness to use ride-sharing.

Partner

Funding

The project Share(d) Image was funded by the Federal State of Hessen and the House of Logistics & Mobility (HOLM) GmbH under the funding code HA-Project-Nr.: 861/20-18.