Thursday, November 21, 2024 | 12:00 – 1:00 PM (ET)
This NICR project addresses the topic of incentivizing carpooling in high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes and high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes. The end goal is to increase carpooling to reduce congestion and reward those who are carpooling. Many urbanized areas offer carpools discounted or toll free use of these lanes; however, enforcement of this policy to prevent single-occupant vehicles (SOV) from using these lanes is expensive. A mobile app was developed by RideFlag Technologies, Inc., which applies biometrics to verify the number of occupants in a vehicle. In an actual deployment, the carpool driver’s toll account would be credited if the carpool was verified, and the SOV driver’s account would simply be charged the full toll. This project piloted the use of the mobile app with volunteer carpoolers to measure its accuracy in determining HOV or SOV.
About the Presenter:
Sara J. Hendricks, AICP, TDM-CP, has worked in the field of transportation demand management (TDM) for most of her career. She began her career in transportation by conducting field work and traffic impact and parking studies for Orth-Rodgers & Associates in Philadelphia, and HNTB in Raleigh, NC. She earned a Master of Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with a concentration in land use planning. At CUTR, she has worked as a member of the TDM Program providing technical support to the New North Transportation Alliance, a transportation management initiative in the north Tampa area. She has conducted research on topics including transportation concurrency, growth management, incorporating TDM into the land development process, transit fare payment mobile apps, and evaluation studies on driving safety, and carpool incentivization technologies. She is project manager for the Florida Commuter Choice Certificate Program. As a member of the Association for Commuter Transportation, she serves on the Certification Board of Trustees, and serves as a member of the Public Policy Committee.
