Exploring peer-to-peer paid carpooling in Bogotá: A path to sustainable shared mobility

• Addresses spatial, conceptual, and methodological gaps in shared mobility research. • Explores informal carpooling in Bogotá, an understudied Global South mobility option. • Identifies motivators and barriers shaping carpool adoption in academic communities. • Uses binomial logit models and machine learning to inform methodological decisions. Carpooling is a sustainable transportation alternative that allows users with similar destinations to share private vehicles, contributing to reductions in energy consumption, pollutant emissions, and traffic congestion. While not a comprehensive solution, carpooling can lower private car use and increase vehicle occupancy rates. However, most carpooling initiatives have been limited in scope, often operating on a small scale or within corporate frameworks, restricting their potential for widespread adoption. In Latin America, where ride-hailing services are popular despite regulatory issues, carpooling remains uncommon. In Bogotá, an exception is the informal service called “Wheels,” which operates through WhatsApp groups to coordinate rides, focusing on university communities. This service quickly became a preferred mode of transport for students, faculty, and staff. This study aims to identify the factors driving the success of this informal initiative. A survey of 470 university community members was conducted, incorporating a discrete choice experiment to evaluate the attributes influencing their stated likelihood of use. Analytical methods included multiple correspondence analysis, logit models, and machine learning techniques. Our findings reveal that the adoption of carpooling is significantly influenced by price sensitivity, safety perceptions (particularly among women), reluctance to share rides with strangers, and demographic factors such as age and socioeconomic status. These insights offer valuable guidance for enhancing the appeal and scalability of carpooling as a door-to-door, reliable transportation alternative, particularly in similar sociocultural contexts as our case study.