Since the 1974 fuel crisis, the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S.D.O.T.) has sponsored numerous community based ridesharing (carpooling and vanpooling) programs. The objective here is to: (1) summarize past research designed to identify variables which explain why some ridesharing members remain in their ridesharing groups while others drop out, (2) empirically examine the variables identified from previous research, and (3) explore the adequacy of U.S.D.O.T. programs and suggest ways to improve them. Data were collected from interviews with 60 subjects, 30 ridesharing participants, and 30 dropouts. Four categories of independent variables were used: (A) traditional structural and demographic, (B) cohesion, (C) time-origin-destination (T.O.D.) constraints, and (D) equity. Multiple Discriminant Analysis was used to distinguish between participants and dropouts. Five variables were selected as having optimal discriminating power: (1) group satisfaction, (2) TOD constraints, (3) group agreements, (4) group heterogeneity, and (5) equity norms. Suggestions are offered for incorporating all five variables into a program to increase the likelihood of program success.
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