UC Berkeley Transportation Sustainability Research Center

Transportation network company (TNCs) rides that are shared amongst users (i.e., pooled) can offer a variety of benefits including increased mobility and reduced transportation emissions. However, very few TNC users select pooled trips and not all pooled rides are matched with other riders. This report supports increased pooling by exploring different pooling strategies and incentives. TNC users were actively engaged to offer insights through the photovoice methodology (a participatory research method that allows community members to use photography to communicate their personal experiences and perceptions). The researchers gathered further information through interviews with four photovoice experts and 10 pooling stakeholders, four photovoice groups and one individual interview with a total of15 TNC users, and a workshop with five expert stakeholders and 12 photovoice group participants. The different research methods resulted in the development of four key takeaways and five policy recommendations.