
flow using ride-sharing initiatives.
Ride-sharing can be an efficient mode of sustain-
able transport for work colleagues or people who live
in close proximity, especially in areas with limited
public transport, walking, or cycling options. Ride-
sharing or car-pooling can be beneficial for organi-
zations and individuals in terms of reduced travel
costs, improved parking efficiency, decreased traffic
congestion, and positive environmental impacts. Be-
sides, it can be a productive, greener, and more sus-
tainable choice for individuals and the wider com-
munity. This research presents an analysis of vehi-
cle trips to and from UVA over a two-week period in
April 2022, with the goal of identifying potential ride-
sharing opportunities based on personalized commut-
ing arrival/departure time preferences.
The key objectives of this analysis are to mainly
recommend ride-sharing suggestions based on timing
and proximity. By identifying individuals who arrive
at UVA at similar times and leave UVA at similar de-
parture times, the aim is to enable coordinated ride-
sharing opportunities that align with their schedules.
Furthermore, the study suggests ride-sharing options
for individuals commuting from and to nearby loca-
tions relative to each other to enhance convenience.
These criteria are used to group vehicles based on
their arrival and departure locations, both at UVA and
at their home locations before and after the UVA trips.
This research details the methodology used to
identify these ride-sharing opportunities, evaluates
the results obtained from the analysis, and presents
visualizations to support the findings. The insights
gained from this study could be instrumental in de-
veloping a systematic ride-sharing program that en-
hances the commuting experience for UVA students,
faculty, and staff. We expect that the approach used
in this research is applicable to many similarly sit-
uated communities and institutions, where optimiz-
ing transportation systems can significantly lower en-
vironmental impact, and improve overall travel effi-
ciency. This framework tailored to different settings
can serve as a versatile solution for fostering sus-
tainable and convenient commuting practices in ur-
ban and academic environments alike. The remain-
der of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2
summarized the status of existing literature related to
car sharing, followed by section 3 with data and ap-
proaches used to analyze the vehicular data. Section
4 presents feasibility evaluation and results, followed
by section 5 discussion, section 6 conclusions and
section 7 future work.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
Interest in ride-sharing to address traffic, parking, and
energy issues in cities, companies, and college cam-
puses has driven extensive research on optimizing
models and understanding influencing factors. Our
study reviews current research on carpooling models,
preferences, and system improvements.
Studies have proposed models and algorithms
aimed to enhance car-sharing systems to benefit both
users and car-sharing companies. Focusing on the
user perspective, Narman et al. presented a model
that employs a two-layer matching system (Narman
et al., 2021), and Hussain et al. proposed a system
specifically designed to optimize car sharing frame-
work for employees in large organizations (Hussain
et al., 2022), while Masoud and Jayakrishnan in-
troduced a real-time algorithm to address the ride-
matching problem within a flexible ride-sharing sys-
tem (Masoud and Jayakrishnan, 2017). In the two-
layer model that Narman et al. developed, the first
layer matches riders based on personal characteris-
tics, such as safety, punctuality, and comfort. The sec-
ond layer limits wait times with personalized thresh-
olds. A machine learning-based recommendation sys-
tem achieved 90 percent accuracy in predicting rider
preferences, providing successful matches and trip
completions. Considering car sharing in large compa-
nies, Hussain et al. developed a framework that con-
siders factors like home location, target destination,
time windows, and personal behavior to optimize car-
pooling groups. The system updates schedules in real
time, offering flexible carpooling solutions. The pro-
posed framework efficiently manages recurrent travel
demand, especially for company employees. The
flexible system that Masoud et al. proposed allows
for dynamic, real-time matching and multi-hop rides,
considering users’ preferences and minimizing wait-
ing times. Their algorithm can also solve large-scale
ride-matching problems quickly, providing comfort to
riders through optimal routing and reducing the num-
ber of transfers. These studies developed innovative
models using algorithmic approaches to enhance user
experiences in car-sharing systems, fostering greater
participation and efficiency in car-sharing systems.
Some researchers have also concentrated on opti-
mizing road networks, particularly in relation to road
congestion and capacity. De Palma et al. focused
on the impact of dynamic congestion on carpool-
ing matching in their paper (de Palma et al., 2022).
The study considered scheduling preferences and dy-
namic congestion in its ride-sharing framework. Re-
sults showed optimal matching occurs when drivers
and passengers are sequenced by location, but differ-
Smart Rideshare Matching: Feasibility of Utilizing Personalized Preferences
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