Santa Barbara and three counties in San Francisco Bay Area select Avego RTR
In a major indication that Real-time Ridesharing (RTR) is becoming a new, mainstream mode of transport, several government agencies in California have chosen to pilot Avego’s ridesharing technology. Administered by Caltrans in Santa Barbara and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) in Sonoma, Contra Costa and Marin Counties, these projects will represent the largest RTR implementations to-date.
Although it’s still early days for RTR, it has already created significant buzz during the first large-scale deployment in Seattle, Washington. Avego was chosen for the go520 project by the Washington State Department of Transport (WSDOT). The aim of this pilot was to measure the impact of RTR on some 190,000 commuters, who are faced with severe congestion across the SR-520 bridge daily.
From mid-2012 the California projects will allow drivers using Avego technology to save money by sharing empty seats in their cars and riders to cut their commute headache by leaving their cars at home and booking a seat to work from their computer or smartphone. The long-term goal of RTR, shared by Avego and its partners, is to curb the number of Single Occupancy Vehicle (SOV) trips, reduce traffic congestion and ultimately cut GHG emissions, while providing a flexible, convenient transport alternative to commuters.
In Contra Costa, Sonoma and Marin Counties the RTR projects will investigate the impact of RTR on a variety of transport issues, including insufficient parking at BART stations, traffic issues on Highway 101 and the reduction of transit services in certain communities.
In the Santa Barbara area, the Community Environmental Council (CEC) hopes the commute alternative provided by RTR will help to solve a number of issues, such as over-crowding on busses to and from Isla Vista and major parking problems in the area. Each of these projects will be rolled out during 2012.
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