The main goal of this dissertation is to answer one of the critical questions about dynamic ride-sharing services: Can dynamic ride-sharing reduce congestion? In this thesis, we propose a simulation-based optimization framework for dynamic ridesharing. Then using this framework, we assess the dynamic ride-sharing impact on two different network scales to find the answer to this question. When assessing the dynamic ride-sharing problem, two important points should be considered. First, how the ridesharing system serves the network demand and second, how the ride-sharing system is impacted by the network and in particular by congestion. Then we can assess the impact of such a service on the network. Most of the existing approaches focus on the first point, i.e., designing the demand matching while using basic assumptions for the second point, mainly constant travel times. The proposed method in this thesis can outperform the existing methods in the literature. The optimization algorithm can provide high-quality solutions in a short time. Our solution approach is designed to be exact for small samples. Then, to be able to handle the large-scale problems, it is extended with several heuristics that keep the general design for the solution method but significantly reduce its computation time. In the simulation component, a "Plant Model" is applied based on the "Trip-based Macroscopic Fundamental Diagram (MFD)" to represent the traffic dynamics reality and a "Prediction Model" is applied based on the mean-speed to be used during the assignment process. We perform an extensive simulation study (based on real-world traffic patterns) to assess the influence of dynamic ride-sharing systems on traffic congestion. In the medium-scale (Lyon 6 + Villeurbanne), the results showed that ride-sharing could not significantly improve the traffic situation. High levels of market-share add additional travel distance and travel time to the trips and lead to more traffic in the network. In large cities, the results are entirely different from those in small and medium-sized cities. In large-scale (Lyon city in France) simulations, the proposed dynamic ride-sharing system can significantly improve traffic conditions, especially during peak hours. Increasing the market-share and the number of sharing can enhance this improvement. Therefore, the proposed dynamic ride-sharing system is a viable option, alleviating stress on existing public transport, to reduce the network traffic in populated and large-scale cities.