Carpooling Systems for Commuting among Teachers: An Expert Panel Analysis of Their Barriers and Incentives

Abstract

Sustainable mobility is a current challenge in our society. Research shows that carpooling systems are potential solutions that could mitigate environmental pollution and urban congestion and provide cost savings for their users. Despite their potential benefits, the levels of carpooling practices among some occupations could be improved. Teachers are suitable for carpooling experiences due to their specific working conditions (e.g., timetables, destinations changes, path matches); however, there is no research solely focused on teachers. Thus, the current research aimed to analyze the barriers and incentives for teachers using carpooling systems for commuting. A panel member was selected following the staticized group technique. Panelists were surveyed to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of carpooling. Results showed that fuel savings were considered by the expert panel as the most important incentive for carpooling. For short distances, carpooling was not considered the best commuting option. Additionally, the increase in travel time and loss of personal independence were identified as relevant barriers. Based on the opinions of experts, it can be concluded that carpooling barriers outweigh the incentives for the commuting of teachers. To promote carpooling practices, institutional mobility plans with advantages for carpoolers could improve the teachers’ perceptions about carpooling. Future carpooling strategies should consider these results to promote incentives and address the identified barriers.

Solving the shortage of psychiatric – mental health nurses in acute inpatient care settings

“…Car‐pooling tax breaks could further incentivize critical skills workers (Rey‐Merchán et al, 2022). We call on governments to examine commute trip reduction programmes such as paid car share benefits for critical skills workers where the employer provides an allowance for car sharing taking into account location and employee requirements (shift patterns and working time arrangements).…”

Proposal for an Institutional Carpooling System among Workers from the Public-Education Sector

“…A relevant aspect for users is travel planning. Due to their inflexible timetables, long-term planning is provided by the system [27]. Another important attribute is the high number of potential users.…”

“…Another important attribute of the model proposed is the free election of the carpoolers by the users [27]. An automatic election by the system could generate trips composed of workmates with low personal affinity.…”

“…Long-term planning Teachers need to arrive on time every day and they need to plan their trips in advance [27] Critical Mass High number of potential users. The higher the number of potential users, the easier it is to match routes with other users from the education sector may access the system [28,29] Privacy Need for protecting personal data [30,35] Free election Travel mates are not imposed by the system [27,36] Trust Only workers from the education sector could to access to the system [37,38] Fee The system will not charge any cost to the users [31,32] Save cost The system will inform users on the amount of money saved for each carpooling travel [13,33,34]…”

An Empirical Study on Acceptance of Carpooling Service in Mirpur DOHS, Dhaka

“…Correia & Viegas ( 2011) have stated that carpooling system needs to gain trust among the users. Another study by Rey-Merchán et al (2022) identified that carpooling isn't feasible for a short distance. Ni et al (2016) stated that passengers' information should be secured in the carpooling system.…”