Shared Mobility

North American Carsharing: A Ten Year Retrospective

Susan Shaheen
Cohen, Adam P.
Chung, Melissa S.
2009

Carsharing organizations (or short-term auto use) provide members access to a fleet of shared vehicles on an hourly basis, reducing the need for private vehicle ownership. This paper reflects a ten-year retrospective of carsharing in Canada and the United States (U.S.), including resultsfrom a 2008 operator survey. Since 1994, a total of 50 carsharing programs have been deployed in North America33 are operational, and 17 are defunct. As of July 1, 2008, there were 14 active programs in Canada and 19 in the U.S., with approximately 319,000 carsharing memberssharing over 7,500 vehicles in...

Carsharing Parking Policy: Review of North American Practices and San Francisco, California, Bay Area Case Study

Susan Shaheen
Cohen, Adam
Martin, Elliot
2010

Carsharing provides users access to a shared vehicle fleet for short-term use throughout the day, reducing the need for private vehicles. The provision of on-street and public off-street parking dedicated to carsharing is an important policy area confronting public agencies. As of July 2009, approximately 377,600 individuals were carsharing members in North America in about 57 metropolitan areas. A total of 17 jurisdictions, one state (California), and eight public transit operators in North America have formal and informal carsharing parking policies, pilot projects, and proposed...

Carsharing's Impact on Household Vehicle Holdings: Results from a North American Shared-Use Vehicle Survey

Martin, Elliot
Susan Shaheen
Lidicker, Jeffrey
2010

Carsharing has grown considerably in North America during the past decade and has flourished within metropolitan regions across the United States and Canada. The result has been a new transportation landscape, which offers urban residents an alternative to automobility without carownership. As carsharing has expanded, there has been a growing demand to understand its environmental impacts. This paper presents the results of a North American carsharing member survey (N = 6,281). The authors establish a “before-and-after” analytical design with a focus oncarsharing’s impacts on household...

Demand for Carsharing Systems in Beijing, China: An Exploratory Study

Susan Shaheen
Martin, Elliot
2010

Rising auto ownership in China brings significant urban and environmental challenges. Since China is still in the early stages of motorization, there are opportunities to introduce alternatives to personal vehicle ownership. The authors conducted a survey with 800 Beijing residents, collecting data on transportation patterns, automobile ownership, environmental attitudes, and carsharing response. Fifteen of those participants were selected to complete an in-depth questionnaire discussing how they would use carsharing services. This paper assesses the potential for carsharing systems within...

Bikesharing in Europe, the Americas, and Asia: Past, Present and Future

Susan Shaheen
Guzman, Stacey
Zhang, Hua
2010

Growing concerns over global motorization and climate change have led to increasing interest in sustainable transportation alternatives, such as bikesharing (the shared use of a bicycle fleet). Since 1965, bikesharing has grown across the globe on four continents including: Europe, North America, South America, and Asia (including Australia). Today, there are approximately 100 bikesharing programs operating in an estimated 125 cities around the world with over 139,300 bicycles. Bikesharing’s evolution is categorized into three generations: 1) White Bikes (or Free Bike Systems); 2) Coin-...

Ridesharing in North America: Past, Present, and Future

Chan, Nelson D.
Susan Shaheen
2011

Since the late-1990s, numerous ridematching programs have integrated the Internet, mobile phones, and social networking into their services. Online ridematching systems are employing a range of new strategies to create “critical mass:” 1) regional and large employer partnerships, 2) financial incentives, 3) social networking to younger populations, and 4) real-time ridematching services that employ “smartphones” and automated ridematching software. Enhanced casual carpooling approaches, which focus on “meeting places,” are also being explored. Today, ridesharing represents approximately 8...

China's Hangzhou Public Bicycle: Understanding Early Adoption and Behavioral Response to Bikesharing in Hangzhou, China

Susan Shaheen
Zhang, Hua
Martin, Elliot
Guzman, Stacey
2011

Over the past 20 years, China has experienced a steady decline in bicycle use. To address this trend, China's central and local government for urban transportation created the "Public Transit Priority" to encourage public transport initiatives. As part of this effort, the Hangzhou government launched “Hangzhou Public Bicycle” in 2008. This service allows members to access a shared fleet of bicycles. As of March 2011, it operated 60,600 bicycles with 2,416 fixed stations in eight core districts. To understand factors leading to bikesharing adoption and barriers to adoption, the authors...

The Impact of Carsharing on Public Transit and Non-Motorized Travel: An Exploration of North American Carsharing Survey Data

Martin, Elliot
Susan Shaheen
2011

By July 2011, North American carsharing had grown to an industry of nearly 640,000 members since its inception on the continent more than 15 years ago. Carsharing engenders changes in member travel patterns both towards and away from public transit and non-motorized modes. This study, which builds on the work of two previous studies, evaluates this shift in travel based on a 6281 respondent survey completed in late-2008 by members of major North American carsharing organizations. Across the entire sample, theresults showed an overall decline in public transit use that was statistically...

Carsharing in Shanghai, China: Analysis of Behavioural Response to Local Survey and Potential Competition

Wang, Mingquan
Martin, Elliot
Susan Shaheen
2012

The rapid motorization of China raises questions about the potential of alternative mobility solutions, such as carsharing (short-term auto use), in developing mega cities like Shanghai. While motor vehicle demand is increasing rapidly, there are many aspects of urban transportation in Shanghai (and China more broadly) that separate it from the urban environments in which carsharing has traditionally thrived. For example, the taxi plays a much more prominent role in the transportation systems of Shanghai and Beijing than it does in most North American and European cities. Carsharing has...

Greenhouse Gas Emission Impacts of Carsharing in North America

Martin, Elliot
Susan Shaheen
2011

This paper evaluates the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission impacts that result from individuals participating in carsharing organizations within North America. The authors conducted an online survey with members of major carsharing organizations and evaluated the change in annual household emissions (e.g., impact) of respondents that joined carsharing. The results show that a majority of households joining carsharing are increasing their emissions by gaining access to automobiles. However, individually, these increases are small. In contrast, the remaining households are decreasing their...