Latent class analysis of carpooling intentions considering the motives, barriers, and benefits: policy insights for behavioral change

The rapid growth in traffic on road networks demands smart and sustainable mobility patterns to reduce traffic congestion and externalities while fulfilling the travel needs of the people. Carpooling is a sustainable alternative that can shift from single occupancy to high occupancy vehicles and reduce users’ travel costs in the era of rising fuel prices. This study aims to categorize travelers into latent classes considering the carpooling barriers, motives, and benefits, and derive suitable transport policies. A questionnaire was designed and conducted online with travelers (N = 400) in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Pakistan. The data were analyzed using factor analysis, latent class analysis (LCA), and logistic regression analysis. The LCAs yielded three classes of carpooling barriers, i.e., barriers conscious, apathetic about barriers, and carpooling spectators; three classes of carpooling motives, i.e., non-carpoolers, apathetic carpoolers, and dedicated carpoolers; and also, three classes of carpooling benefits, i.e., non-believers of benefits, casual believers of benefits, and benefits passionate. The comparison based on average scores and ANOVA results showed significant heterogeneity in perceptions about various carpooling attributes and characteristics across three classes of barriers, motives, and benefits. The binary logistic regression showed that gender, profession, travel mode, income level, driving a car, trip distance, and cost reduction expectation are significant attributes in predicting the specific class of travelers. Travelers who are in classes of dedicated carpoolers, carpooling spectators, and ‘benefits passionate’ have a higher likelihood of carpooling. Travelers with a 6–15 km trip distance are likely to fall in the non-carpoolers class and less likely to fall in the ‘benefits passionate’ class. A 50% cost reduction with carpooling positively impacts the propensity to carpool and the belief in carpooling benefits. These findings would provide useful insight to transport planners in designing appropriate carpooling programs that focus on specific classes of travelers.