Carpooling Platforms as Smart City Projects: A Bibliometric Analysis and Systematic Literature Review

Carpooling schemes for mutual cost benefits between the driver and the passengers has a long history. However, the convenience of driving alone, the increasing level of car ownership, and the difficulties in finding travelers with matching timing and routes keep car occupancy low. Technology is a key enabler of online platforms which facilitate the ride matching process and lead to an increase in carpooling services. Smart carpooling services may be an alternative and enrichment for mobility, which can help smart cities (SCs) reduce traffic congestion and gas emissions but require the appropriate architecture to support connection with the city infrastructure such as high-occupancy vehicle lanes, parking space, tolls, and the public transportation services. To better understand the evolution of carpooling platforms in SCs, bibliometric analysis of three separate specialized literature collections, combined with a systematic literature review, is performed. It is identified that smart carpooling platforms could generate additional value for participants and SCs. To deliver this value to an SC, a multi-sided platform business model is proposed, suitable for a carpooling service provider with multiple customer segments and partners. Finally, after examining the SC structure, a carpooling platform architecture is presented, which interconnects with the applicable smart city layers.

Analysing the Impact of Traffic Incidents on the Travel Time Reliability of Freeway High-Occupancy Vehicle Lanes

This study aims to examine the impact of traffic incidents occurring on general purpose lanes (GPLs) on the travel time reliability of high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes on freeways and to evaluate the differences of travel time reliability on GPLs and HOV lanes under the same incident conditions. In this paper, an empirical travel time reliability analysis is conducted using the travel time and incident data collected between 2009 and 2012 on Interstate 5 and Interstate 405 of the Seattle metropolitan area. Three incident types (i.e., shoulder incident, single lane incident, and multiple lane incident) are considered. Two measures, percentile-based indicator and inflow–percentile travel time function, are used. The results suggest that incidents result in lower values of travel time reliability for all the measures. The results also show that multiple lane incident type has the most significant impact on the freeway route travel time reliability, while shoulder incident type has the least impact. Generally, HOV lanes have higher travel time reliability than GPLs under the same incident types. The findings in this study provide useful decision support for transportation agencies to improve travel time reliability on freeways.