Carpooling as a Solution to Congestion in Dublin

Carpooling as a Solution to Congestion in Dublin 1
CARPOOLING AS A SOLUTION TO CONGESTION IN DUBLIN
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Carpooling as a Solution to Congestion in Dublin 2
Carpooling as a Solution to Congestion in Dublin
Carpooling is one of the emerging method people are using to reduce the cost and
time of commuting (Shaheen, Chan, and Gaynor, 2016, p. 168). The technique is eco-friendly
and sustainable in terms of time saved, cost, resource use, and traffic congestion
(Tahmasseby, Kattan, and Barbour, 2016, p. 241). Carpooling involves car-sharing between
people going to similar or different destinations in a particular direction. The process of
carpooling starts with the motive for car-sharing, communication of purpose between various
agents, negotiation, and feedback. The goals for carpooling may be time-saving, convenience,
cost of resources, and other constraints.
The paper will focus on the simulation model of carpooling with the Janus multi-
agent platform. Essentially, it will simulate car-pooling where one agent traveling from point
A to B so will put a request in the model which is also accessible by another person traveling
in the same direction who will pool the same car. The model will tell how much time each of
the agents takes to reach their destinations assuming in the same direction. Therefore, the
model can be used to compare the time and cost taken by bus and car to travel the same route.
Geographical datasets, including accurate maps of Dublin, will be imported from
GeoFabrik into Netlogo (Uri Wilensky , 1999), the platform where the agent-based model
will be created. The scenarios of interest as a proof-of-concept for this research project
include the following experimental setups:
 Users’ independently requiring travel from A to B evaluating both bus and carpool
options according to each estimated time, costs –and, if applicable, how many would
carpool.
 Different user picks up points, for example, if sharing with four people will it be four
stops or everyone picked up from 1 stop or based on the location assigning closest
pickup points for users.

Carpooling as a Solution to Congestion in Dublin 3
The results of these simulations will be analysed to understand the feasibility of introducing a
carpooling system in Dublin as a convenient way to travel across in Dublin and to explore the
likely impact of carpooling implementation in transportation.
Carpooling Model
An agent is an independent entity with autonomy in decision making on schedules
and needs in traveling. The route schedule is the trips made in a certain period. The model
used in this study considers socio-economic factors such as age, work, income, gender,
education, relationships, vehicle, ownership, and among other sets of data inputs. The car-
pooling model will be represented by:
TRL1 = {Unj=1 rqj, TTRL1}
Where,
TRL1 is the multiple stops car-pool has to stop
Rqj is the number of passenger requests
TTRL1 number of available cars for pooling in the system
The system manager (TRG) integrates all the information gathered from all operating cars for
easy decisions about client pick-up point and most convenient car available for a given route.
TRG = Unj=1 Infotj
Where Infotj is the information shared car-pooling and the system manager which include
destination and preferences as shown below respectively:
Infotj = {Di, Pi}
Di = {D1,D2,......Dn}
Pi = {P1,P2,......Pn}
The system ensures cars-pooling work together and interacts to identify drop
destinations and client mode choice. Each of the car-pooling has the objective of having a
maximum number of trips in the city and transporting as many passengers as possible. The