Peak Oil Task Force Report - City of Bloomington - State of Indiana

2. Develop a community cooperative ride­share system.
One of the greatest transportation vulnerabilities stems from current land use and
commuting patterns. About 19 percent of the Monroe County workforce commutes from
surrounding counties. Even within the county, there are pockets of low‐density exurban
settlement that are distant from activity nodes and for which it is costly to provide public
transit.
In the short‐term, one of the easiest and most effective ways to
drastically increase fuel efficiency is not the purchase of more fuel‐
efficient vehicles, but decreasing fuel use per passenger mile by
maximizing the capacity of our community’s existing vehicles. Over the
next five years, the community’s biggest employers – Indiana University,
the City of Bloomington, Monroe County, Bloomington Hospital, schools, and other
organizations – should work cooperatively to establish an electronic carpooling match
system whereby employees of any of these institutions can identify ride share
opportunities with the employees of any of the other entities. By combining all the
workplaces, the pool of people seeking and offering ride shares is increased, making it
more likely that people who commute from other counties and whose residences are
distributed over a large area will find someone else close by with whom they are able to
share the commute.
Having a well‐designed ride‐sharing system like this in place would provide much needed
insurance against sudden price spikes and fuel shortages. The higher prices rise, the more
attractive it would be to participate in the system. The benefits to each participant would
be immediate and major disruptions from people not being able to afford the trip to work
could be avoided.
Report of the Bloomington Peak Oil Task Force
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