The school run: Exploring carpooling as an intervention option in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA), Canada

The aims of this study were to identity the prevalence of carpooling as a school travel mode in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) and to examine attitudes toward automobile school travel and carpooling among adults who drive their children to school. Telephone interviews were conducted with 1,001 GTHA parents/guardians of elementary school-aged children. Analyses indicated that 1.7% of the sample used carpooling as the primary school travel mode in the a.m., while 33.8% of the sample drove their child to school in the a.m. One quarter (25%) of the total sample had participated in a carpool for school travel with neighbors or friends at times. The main reasons for automobile school travel were convenience and safety. Those drivers who indicated carpooling to be more convenient reported carpooling to be more appealing, to interfere less with their current household schedule, were more interested in carpooling, placed a greater importance on using an environment-friendly travel mode, and had a greater proportion of non-English speakers than drivers who indicated carpooling to be inconvenient. These findings confirm that carpooling is an under-utilized school travel mode, and that there may be some scope in intervening among parents/guardians who perceive carpooling to be potentially convenient. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.