Your dashboard explained

Every number on the Overview counts verified trips only: trips where two or more participants' phones were recorded in the same vehicle. Nobody types in a trip, so nothing here is self-reported. How the platform decides is in How verification works.

The filters at the top (period, and employer for program staff) apply to every number and chart on the page.

Words used below

Car trips avoided

The headline. Each shared vehicle trip with n people in it counts as n − 1 car trips avoided: if those people had driven alone there would have been n cars instead of one. Each person in the car is credited with their share, (n − 1) / n, so the totals add up correctly when you filter by employer.

Miles not driven multiplies the same shares by the length of road recorded.

This is an estimate. It assumes everyone in a carpool would otherwise have driven alone; some would have taken the bus or not travelled. Funders generally accept the assumption when it is stated; the Reports page has wording you can use.

Shared trips

The number of trips participants made that were shared, and as a share of all trips participants recorded in the period. The share rises as people find partners; it is the best single measure of whether the program is changing behaviour.

Participants

A participant who is enrolled but never active usually has location access set to "While Using" instead of "Always", or turned off Background App Refresh. Troubleshooting covers it.

CO₂ avoided

Miles not driven × 400 grams, the EPA's figure for a typical passenger vehicle, shown in metric tons. Gallons of fuel assumes 25 miles per gallon. Both are estimates of the same kind as car trips avoided.

Money saved

Fuel is gallons saved × the average retail price of regular gasoline in the Rocky Mountain region for the period, from the U.S. Energy Information Administration's weekly survey (EIA doesn't publish Montana on its own), fetched automatically every week. A price set in Program settings overrides it. Driving costs appear once a cost per mile is set there: miles not driven × that rate. The IRS standard mileage rate is the usual figure and covers fuel, wear and depreciation.

Self-reported trips

When Program settings takes self-reported trips, participants can type a trip in the app (bike, walk, run, rolling, bus, carpool or vanpool, with its miles), and people without a smartphone log on a web page of their own. They're shown on their own tile and in their own report columns, never added to verified trips. Up to two a day, from the last 14 days. Whether they earn drawing entries is a separate switch.

Average car occupancy

The average number of participants in each shared vehicle trip. 2.0 means pairs; anything above shows three-person carpools.

Rewards earned

Participant-months in which a participant reached the reward threshold within the period. One participant who qualifies in October and November counts twice.

Trips by week

Each bar is a week (Monday to Sunday): shared trips in blue, trips driven alone in grey. Hover a bar, or tab to it, to see the numbers; Show as table gives every value. A partial week at either end of the period is shorter for that reason.

When shared trips leave

Shared trips by the hour they started, split by direction. Toward Big Sky means southbound on US-191 or up MT-64; toward the valley is the reverse. Peaks show shift changes, and are where new carpool matches are easiest to make.

By road

Shared vehicle trips on each road the platform records, with the average occupancy on that road. The canyon (US-191) carries most; the Montage, Moonlight and Mountain Village roads show carpooling inside Big Sky.

By employer

One row per employer, for program staff. Participation is enrolled participants divided by the headcount you entered for that employer (blank if you didn't enter one). The remaining columns use the definitions above.