Carsharing

Carsharing Service ShareNow Has Left D.C. What Could Come Next?

March 3, 2020
Margaret Barthel

photo of car2go vehicle

ShareNow — previously known as car2go — officially shut down its carsharing business in D.C. and North America over the weekend after eight years in the city. Despite its departure, experts say that carsharing isn’t struggling here in the D.C. region.

“Washington D.C. is actually one of the strongest marketplaces for these types of on-demand options in the entire United States,” said Susan Shaheen, a...

Innovative Mobility Carsharing Outlook - Winter 2020

Susan Shaheen, PhD and Adam Cohen
2020

Since 1998, 94 carsharing programs have been deployed in North America - 40 are operational and 52 are defunct. As of January 1, 2018, there were 18 active programs in Canada, 21 in the United States (U.S.), and one program in Mexico. In North America, carsharing membership totaled approximately 2,110,111 members sharing 23,376 vehicles. The three largest carsharing operators in the U.S. and Canada accounted for 91% and 86% of the total membership, respectively. Only one operator provided service in Mexico as of January 2018.

Carsharing's Impact and Future

Susan Shaheen, PhD, Adam Cohen, and Emily Farrar
2019

Carsharing provides members access to a fleet of autos for short-term use throughout the day, reducing the need for one or more personal vehicles. This chapter reviews key terms and definitions for carsharing, common carsharing business models, and existing impact studies. Next, the chapter discusses the commodification and aggregation of mobility services and the role of Mobility on Demand (MOD) and Mobility as a Service (MaaS) on carsharing. Finally, the chapter concludes with a discussion of how the convergence of electrification and automation is changing carsharing, leading to...

Shared mobility and urban form impacts: a case study of peer-to-peer (P2P) carsharing in the US

Susan Shaheen, PhD, Elliot Martin, PhD, and Mikaela Hoffman-Stapleton
2019

This paper advances the understanding of peer-to-peer (P2P) carsharing within the broader context of shared mobility and its connection to the built environment in the US through a survey conducted in 2014 (n = 1,151). Eleven per cent of respondents used carpooling/ridesharing more, and 19% avoided a vehicle purchase due to P2P vehicle access in urban areas. Nevertheless, P2P carsharing has the potential to operate in a range of land-use environments and could be an important strategy to further deemphasize car ownership. Additionally, as the deployment of automated vehicles (AVs) is...

Chapter 13 - Sharing strategies: carsharing, shared micromobility (bikesharing and scooter sharing), transportation network companies, microtransit, and other innovative mobility modes

Susan Shaheen, PhD, Adam Cohen, Nelson Chan, and Apaar Bansal
2020

Shared mobility—the shared use of a vehicle, bicycle, or other mode—is an innovative transportation strategy that enables users to gain short-term access to transportation modes on an “as-needed” basis. It includes various forms of carsharing, bikesharing, scooter sharing, ridesharing (carpooling and vanpooling), transportation network companies (TNCs), and microtransit. Included in this ecosystem are smartphone “apps” that aggregate and optimize these mobility options, as well as “courier network services” that provide last mile package and food delivery. This chapter describes...

Zero-emission vehicle exposure within U.S. carsharing fleets and impacts on sentiment toward electric-drive vehicles

Susan Shaheen, PhD, Elliot Martin, and Hannah Totte
2020

Reducing carbon emissions from the United States (U.S.) transportation sector has emerged as a priority action to combat climate changeCarsharing and zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) could be integral to creating a more sustainable transportation system. This paper presents the results of a study that evaluated the impacts of...

Share Now Is the Latest Car-Share Service to Fold

December 19, 2019
Aarian Marshall

car2go vehicles

The US is about to lose another car-share service. On Wednesday, the Daimler- and BMW-owned entity that operates the service Share Now said the company's cars would disappear from North American streets by the end of February 2020. For customers in New York, Montreal, Seattle, Washington, DC, and Vancouver, that’s a bummer. It’s a bummer as well for those who enjoyed short-term rentals in London, Brussels, and...

Car Sharing Service Turo Relies on Data to Get Ahead in Crowded Rental Market

October 22, 2019
Mark Hamstra

Turo Office

When it comes to marketing, Turo tries to make every dollar count.

The company — sometimes referred to as the “Airbnb of car rentals” — was founded in 2009 with operations in San Francisco and Boston, and has since expanded to more than 5,000 cities across the U.S., Canada, Germany, and the U.K. It competes not only against established car rental giants such as National, Enterprise, Dollar, Avis and Hertz,...

Understanding Impacts of Incentives on One-Way Electric Vehicle Carsharing: A Case Study of Car2go in San Diego

April 23, 2019
Susan Shaheen

picture of a car2go vehicle

With carsharing, individuals gain the benefits of private-vehicle use without the costs and responsibilities of ownership. One-way (or point-to-point) carsharing is a form of carsharing that enables members to pick up a vehicle at one location and drop it off at another. Typically, the carsharing operator provides gasoline, parking, and maintenance. Generally, participants pay a fee each time they...

Car-sharing app out of service in Chicago after dozens of vehicles stolen

April 19, 2019
Kari Paul

picture of vehicle

Car-sharing service Car2Go was out of service in the Chicago area on Friday after dozens of its vehicles were stolen through the app this week.

Up to 100 cars were reported missing on Wednesday, the Chicago police department confirmed. Most cars have since been recovered, but a representative for Car2Go said Chicago vehicles have been put out of service until further notice.

Police have charged 21...