A single-occupancy vehicle (SOV) is a privately operated
vehicle
A vehicle () is a machine designed for self-propulsion, usually to transport people, cargo, or both. The term "vehicle" typically refers to land vehicles such as human-powered land vehicle, human-powered vehicles (e.g. bicycles, tricycles, velo ...
whose only occupant is the driver. The drivers of SOVs use their vehicles primarily for personal travel, daily commuting and for running errands. The types of vehicles include, but are not limited to,
sport utility vehicle
A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive.
There is no commonly agreed-upon definitio ...
s (SUVs),
light-duty trucks, and any combination thereof, along with all the various van and car sizes, but would generally be taken to exclude
human-powered vehicles such as bicycles. This term is used by
transportation engineers and
planners. SOVs contrast with
high-occupancy vehicle
A high-occupancy vehicle lane (also known as an HOV lane, carpool lane, diamond lane, 2+ lane, and transit lane or T2 or T3 lanes) is a restricted traffic lane reserved for the exclusive use of vehicles with a driver and at least one passenger, i ...
s (HOV), which have two or more occupants.
[National Research Council (U.S.). Special Report - Transportation Research Board, National Research Council. Washington, D.C.: Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, 1974.] Keep in mind that SOV in this context refers to a status and usage, not the vehicle type.
See also
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Carpool
Carpooling is the sharing of Automobile, car journeys so that more than one person travels in a car, and prevents the need for others to have to drive to a location themselves. Carpooling is considered a Demand-Responsive Transport (DRT) serv ...
References
Driving
Road traffic management
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