State of Carpooling 2026

Carpooling remains one of the most cost-effective transportation demand management strategies available, delivering benefits that include reduced congestion, lower emissions, transportation cost savings, and improved access to opportunity. Carpool participation in the United States has declined substantially since 1980, from roughly 20 percent of work trips to under 9 percent today, but important examples from the United States and abroad demonstrate that meaningful participation, resilience, and even growth remain achievable under the right conditions. The question is not whether carpooling can work, but under what conditions it succeeds.

The Association for Commuter Transportation initiated the State of Carpooling Study to understand why -and to identify what, if anything, changes the outcome. What this research found was more complicated, and more important, than a catalog of best practices. It challenges some of the profession's most fundamental assumptions about how carpooling works, who makes it happen, and what it will actually take to turn the trend around.

This report includes two volumes: one final report and its supplemental research.