Carsharing

California’s Zero-Emission Vehicle Mandate – Linking Clean-Fuel Cars, Carsharing, and Station Car Strategies

Susan Shaheen, PhD, John Wright, and Daniel Sperling
2002

To reduce transportation emissions and energy consumption, policy makers typically employ one of two approaches-changing technology or changing behavior. These strategies include demand management tools, such as ridesharing and vehicle control technologies that involve cleaner fuels and fuel economy. Despite the benefits of a combined policy approach, these strategies are normally employed separately. Nevertheless, they have been linked occasionally, for instance in the electric station car programs of the 1990s. Station cars are vehicles used by transit riders at the start or end of...

CarLink II: A Commuter Carsharing Pilot Program Final Report

Susan Shaheen, PhD, Kamill Wipyewski, Caroline Rodier, PhD, Linda Novick, Mollyane Meyn, and John Wright
2004

CarLink II was a commuter-based carsharing pilot project administered by the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Davis (ITS-Davis) in conjunction with Caltrans, American Honda Motor Company, and Caltrain. California Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways (PATH) researchers conducted the evaluation. Pilot objectives included testing an advanced carsharing system, understanding user response to this service, and testing its long-term sustainability. From July 1, 2001 to June 30, 2002, the CarLink II program was deployed in the field and continued...

Carsharing in the United States: Examining Market Potential

Susan A. Shaheen, Ph.D.
2002

The automobile is the dominant travel mode throughout the U.S., while transit accounts for less than four-percent of market share. Between these principal modes, niche markets exist for other transportation services, such as transit feeder shuttles and carsharing. Carsharing, in which individuals share a fleet of vehicles distributed at neighborhoods, employment sites, and/or transit stations, could potentially fill and expand one such niche; complement existing services; and develop into an economically viable transportation alternative. While most transit modes rely heavily upon...

Creative Reallocation of Curbs, Streets, Sidewalks Accelerated by the Pandemic May be Here to Stay

Susan Shaheen, Adam Cohen, Jacquelyn Broader
2023

Curb space has been traditionally designed for private vehicle parking, public transit, and passenger and commercial loading. However, in recent years, a growing number of newservices and activities have increased the demand for limited curb space, including passenger pick-up and drop-off; last-mile delivery (e.g., courier network services, personal delivery devices); electric vehicle (EV) charging; micromobility parking and use (e.g., personally owned and shared bikes and scooters); and carsharing services. The curb serves a variety of functions such as vehicle and device storage (...

Roundtrip Carsharing in New York City: An Evaluation of a Pilot Program and System Impacts

Elliot Martin, Adam Stocker, Aqshems Nichols, Susan Shaheen
2021

The study found that roundtrip carsharing in NYC mostly serves as a substitute for car rental, other personal vehicle modes, and personal vehicle ownership. The analysis showed that the broader pilot program had a modest impact on user behavior through carsharing (i.e., reduced vehicle ownership, reduced VMT, and mode shift). It also found that the pilot program likely expanded the membership base of carsharing to demographic cohorts that are traditionally underrepresented in carsharing populations (i.e., increased participation by lower education levels, lower household incomes,...

Shared ride services in North America: definitions, impacts, and the future of pooling

Susan Shaheen, Adam Cohen
2018

Shared ride services allow riders to share a ride to a common destination. They include ridesharing (carpooling and vanpooling); ridesplitting (a pooled version of ridesourcing/transportation network companies); taxi sharing; and microtransit. In recent years, growth of Internet-enabled wireless technologies, global satellite systems, and cloud computing - coupled with data sharing – are causing people to increase their use of mobile applications to share a ride. Some shared ride services, such as carpooling and vanpooling, can provide transportation, infrastructure, environmental, and...

Mobility on Demand Planning and Implementation: Current Practices, Innovations, and Emerging Mobility Futures

Susan Shaheen, Adam Cohen, Jacquelyn Broader, Richard Davis, Les Brown, Radha Neelekantan, Deepak Gopalakrishna
2020

This report provides Mobility on Demand (MOD) planning and implementation practices and tools to support communities. The report discusses different stakeholders in the MOD ecosystem and the role of partnerships in filling spatial, temporal, and other service gaps. Additionally, the report discusses how MOD can be integrated into transportation planning and modeling. The report also discusses shared mobility implementation considerations, such as rights-of-way management, multimodal integration, data sharing, equity, labor impacts, and the role of pilot evaluations. Finally, the...

Understanding Carsharing Risk and Insurance Claims in the United States

Susan Shaheen, PhD
Diwen Shen
Elliot Martin, PhD
2016

Screenshot of the title of the report and the authors

Carsharing offers consumers short-term access to vehicles, which facilitates better mobility and reduces the need for personal vehicle ownership. Carsharing does not require consumers to have automobile insurance. Instead, carsharing operators insure their members and are responsible for the risks and liabilities associated with vehicle use....

CarLink—A Smart Carsharing System

Susan Shaheen
1999

The author of this piece is today intensely involved in the second stage of her professional interest in carsharing. Starting several years ago, she began to look into as part of her doctoral research in transportation studies at an American university. Several years later, here she is as entrepreneur and manager behind an ambitious carsharing project. This is a report on the first months of their experience and goals for the future.

Car-sharing companies are taking a less germ-infested route in Covid-19 times

May 20, 2020

getaround vehicle with logo

Car-sharing platforms, which have suffered during the Covid-19 lockdown, see an opportunity emerging: an increase in short-distance, local trips as U.S. consumers look for a different way of getting to work and running errands.

Executives from Turo, GetAround and ZipCar are hoping their pitch to customers—a means of travel that is cheaper than car ownership and sanitary—...