Shared Rides Pilot

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Project Introduction

Take the Shared Rides Survey now!

Whether you ride or drive, the survey is intended to help the SFMTA better understand perceptions of carpooling and sharing rides in San Francisco. The survey will identify priorities for San Francisco residents and the barriers they face when considering using shared ride options. The insights gained from this survey will inform the city’s future transportation planning decisions to encourage shared rides, which may include restriping existing traffic lanes to high occupancy vehicle carpool lanes and designating convenient drop-off curb locations for carpools and app-based shared rides.

Project Introduction 

San Francisco is projected to grow to more than a million people by 2030. To connect San Franciscans safely, equitably and sustainably to their communities, we must make more efficient use of our street infrastructure. Increasing vehicle occupancy through carpools and shared ride matching apps is one way to more efficiently utilize our existing street space. 

Sharing rides removes single occupancy vehicles from congested city streets. Less congestion reduces average commute times and improves transit reliability. It can also make the transportation system more equitable by decreasing household transportation budgets, and increasing mobility and access to jobs, especially in areas with less frequent transit service.

To encourage carpooling, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) will explore potential approaches to increase ride sharing through the Shared Rides Pilot. These interventions could include restriping existing traffic lanes into high occupancy vehicle (HOV) carpool lanes, designating safe and convenient pickup and drop-off curb locations for casual carpools and shared rides matching apps.

Project Timeline
Fall 2019 - Winter 2019
Conduct needs assessment to understand behavior, perceptions, and opportunities for shared rides.
Pending
Spring 2020 - Fall 2020
Select the physical interventions to be installed to increase demand for shared rides. Determine viability of integrating a digital platform for finding shared rides into pilot.
Pending
Winter 2020 - Summer 2021
Implement and install physical interventions.
Pending
Winter 2021 - Summer 2022
Evaluate intervention.
Pending
Project Status
  1. Planning

What are the Benefits of Shared Rides?

Fewer vehicles on San Francisco’s streets benefits the transportation system by:

  • Helping meet our Climate Action Goals by reducing greenhouse gas emissions 
  • Reducing congestion and improving travel times for everyone who uses our roads
  • Improving safety by reducing conflicts between vehicles and pedestrians and cyclists

The Project Approach

The SFMTA will engage with community stakeholders to better understand perceptions of carpooling and ride sharing in San Francisco. We will seek to identify barriers that San Francisco residents are facing when considering using shared ride options. From this needs assessment, the SFMTA will develop potential interventions the city could take to facilitate an increase in ride sharing. 

Project History

San Francisco received a $11 million grant from the Federal Highway Administration’s Advanced Transportation and Congestion Management Technologies Deployment (ATCMTD) program for the Advanced Transportation Program (AdvanceSF). AdvanceSF will explore and test forward-thinking ideas to augment, remodel, and re-imagine transportation, including: 

  • Shared Rides Pilot 
  • Vision Zero Smart Traffic Signals Pilot 
  • Treasure Island Electronic Tolling System Pilot (led by SFCTA) 
  • Treasure Island Automated Shuttle Pilot (led by SFCTA) 
Contact Information
Darton Ito, Deputy Director for Innovation and Program Delivery