User:Rid39rjk/sandbox

Ridepair Wikipedia page The evolution of carpooling is now called RidePairing. The mission of RidePair Inc is to reduce traffic congestion and carbon emissions by removing the number of vehicles from the road through ridepairing. Both parties, riders and drivers, are incentivized through the application for their conservation efforts, one in particular is the creation of carbon credits, these are calculated within the application from the carbon emissions saved from commuters ridepairing. The biggest difference RidePair offers is that riders are incentivized to participate as well as drivers. RidePair also utilizes the AI component to match individuals with similar interests, travel routes, and scheduling making the rides more enjoyable. This contributes to decreasing the negative effects of carbon emissions and rewards the efforts of improving our air quality and traffic congestion. HISTORY As a native from Los Angeles, the Co-founder Debbie Lin realized that in order to achieve a reduction in traffic and air pollution, we had to revamp the idea of carpooling so that we can reduce the number of vehicles on the road throughout the year and people should be rewarded for their efforts. Environmental and Health Concerns with Traffic congestion There are concerns about the air pollution emitted from cars with its effect on individual’s health and the environment. The American Lung Association in their “State of Air” 2022 report found that more than 40% of Americans are living in places with unhealthy levels of air pollution. This is equivalent to 2.1 million more people breathing unhealthy air than in 2021. Unfortunately Americans have experienced more days of “unhealthy” or “hazardous” air quality in the last two decades, more than ever before. In 2010, Harvard Center for Risk Analysis conducted a Health Risk Assessment for the public health costs of traffic congestion where they evaluated premature deaths and traffic congestion in 83 urban areas. For 2005, they concluded nationwide that there were 1.2 million tons of NOx, 34,000 tons of SO2 and 23,000 tons of PM2.5 emissions attributable to congested traffic. These emissions are associated with approximately 3,000 premature deaths. Also, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2020, the U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions by the Economic Sector, transportation was the largest contributor being 27%, deriving from the combustion of petroleum-based products like gasoline and diesel fuel. These health statistics are very concerning and in conjunction with the understanding that we can reduce our contribution by decreasing the number of cars on the road so there is less traffic congestion and emissions; we can utilize RidePair to create a more efficient and profitable way to do our part. Cost of Transportation & Road Infrastructure On a financial note, the U.S. Department of Transportation Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported on average customers faced higher transportation costs in 2021 than in 2020 (14.6% increase). This being partly due to the drastic increase in movement of people after the halt of 2020. Private transportation costs increased by 15.6% and public transportation by 1.7%. The cost of gasoline increased 36% and used cars and trucks increased by 26%. Coinciding with this increase in transportation costs, includes the poor state of the road’s infrastructure as the Report Card for America’s Infrastructure 2021 reported that 43% of our public roadways are in poor or mediocre condition. Something must be done to reduce our costs and improve our road’s infrastructure. Safety? (Regulation/rules to keep both drivers and riders safe) The safety of our users is of the utmost importance which is why we have safety measures in place. We are creating communities that allow people to connect and preselect each other based on common interests and preferences. Also, each driver is required to submit their driver’s license and driving record to be prescreened before driving riders. It will be conglomerated for each user to have their preferred community members paired together for rides, where they feel safe and connected as each has a proven record of consistency.

References Key findings: State of the Air. State of the Air | American Lung Association. (n.d.). Retrieved February 15, 2023, from https://www.lung.org/research/sota/key-findings#:~:text=The%20%E2%80%9CState%20of%20the%20Air,of%20particle%20pollution%20or%20ozone

The public health costs of traffic congestion - IBTTA. (n.d.). Retrieved February 15, 2023, from https://www.ibtta.org/sites/default/files/The%20Public%20Health%20Costs%20of%20Traffic%20Congestion.pdf Environmental Protection Agency. (n.d.). Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions. EPA. Retrieved February 15, 2023, from https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions

Transportation Economic Trends: Transportation costs - households. Bureau of Transportation Statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved February 15, 2023, from https://data.bts.gov/stories/s/Transportation-Economic-Trends-Transportation-Cost/5h3f-jnbe/ Roads. ASCE's 2021 Infrastructure Report Card |. (2022, July 12). Retrieved February 15, 2023, from https://infrastructurereportcard.org/cat-item/roads-infrastructure/