Fill Cars, Fight Traffic

Whether through carpooling, slugging, or vanpooling, filling in all those empty seats on the highway could be the answer to easing congestion, beginning with just one workday a week. And the Ridesharing Institute isn't necessarily talking about old-school carpooling either: social media and technology is helping the organization push for more convenient, user-accommodating arrangements.

"Developing the best models will require actual R&D (although a small amount has been done and "soft" efforts to change mentalities has shown some promise). But while ridesharing currently accounts for about 10 percent of commuting trips, it gets nowhere near that in budget allocations or R&D funding from transportation agencies or large employers. Transit, bike, and pedestrian infrastructure have a similar problem because, on the whole, most of our attention and money goes toward accommodating single drivers and their cars."