Car-Sharing: Where and How It Succeeds (2005) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 95-134
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From page 95... ...
There is general agreement that car-sharing reduces vehicle travel and vehicle ownership, and while the extent of these benefits is still in doubt, this is likely as much due to local circumstances – both geographic and the nature of the car-sharing program – as to research design.
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From page 96... ...
September 2005 Page 4-2 Chapter 4 • ImpaCts of Car-sharIng Exhibit 4-1 Potential Benefits of Car-Sharing
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From page 97... ...
How does use of car-sharing services change the number and type of auto trips? Do car-sharing members make more effective use of transportation Individual/ Business Cost savings Greater mobility Convenience Firm Data More Speculative Transportation System Lower parking demand More fuel-efficient vehicles Less vehicle travel More transit ridership Environment/ Community Lower emissions Cost savings for development Less congestion Better urban design More compact development Less energy/resources for vehicle manufacturing
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From page 98... ...
In turn, reduced vehicle ownership may mean that less residential parking has to be provided, and allow businesses to lease fewer parking spaces. This is primarily an issue in urban areas where parking is scarce, and the provision of new parking is expensive.
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From page 99... ...
Car-Sharing: Where and How It Succeeds Page 4-5 • Reduced need to construct new public parking. This may be relevant in limited circumstances, where new public parking is planned to serve an older residential or mixed-use neighborhood.
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From page 100... ...
To some extent, these impacts will be indirect and depend on the extent to which car-sharing is able to reduce vehicle travel, as discussed in the following section. For example, if customers walk or take transit rather than driving to a store or leisure facility, fewer parking spaces will be required.
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From page 101... ...
Control group members had registered to join City CarShare, but had not actually joined – for example, because a pod was not located close to them (Cervero & Tsai, 2003)
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From page 102... ...
Bremen 9% 26% Figures refer to members with combined car-sharing/annual transit pass. Holm & Eberstein (2002)
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From page 103... ...
Vance, Williams & Rutherford (2004) Seattle, WA 15% 40% 48 Figures refer to net change in vehicle ownership, with 23% giving up a vehicle and 8.5% adding a new vehicle to the household.
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From page 104... ...
. Figures refer to change in household motor vehicle ownership within the first two years of the San Francisco City CarShare program.
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From page 105... ...
The researchers believe that respondents are representative of those who received the survey, and that they are more likely to represent the active, individual members who are included on these e-mail lists. (Because only 9.5% of respondents reported that their employer paid all or part of their car-sharing costs, we conclude that the respondents better represent individual members than corporate or other members.)
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From page 106... ...
Exhibit 4-6 suggests that the percentage may lie at more than 50%, with by far the greatest impact being on second car ownership. Meanwhile, 70% of members have been able to postpone buying a car – again, far greater than the figure suggested by previous studies.
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From page 107... ...
In turn, reduced vehicle travel translates into a range of other benefits – some straightforward, such as reduced emissions, and some more speculative, such as increased physical activity and support for local shops and services. The manner in which car-sharing converts fixed driving costs into variable ones may be largely responsible for these changes in travel behavior.
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From page 108... ...
$3,051 Finance charges $554 Annual Costs Miles Driven per Year 10,000 15,000 20,000 Fixed Costs $4,953 $4,953 $4,953 Variable Costs $1,150 $1,725 $3,105 Total Costs $6,103 $6,678 $8,058 Fixed costs as a % of total costs 81% 74% 61% Source: Adapted from American Automobile Association (2003)
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From page 109... ...
In turn, a large body of research suggests that compact development reduces vehicle travel – as residential density doubles, vehicle miles traveled per capita falls by approximately 20% (Holtzclaw et al., 2002)
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From page 110... ...
Should overall vehicle travel fall, i.e. with reduced travel outweighing induced travel, this is likely to be realized partly as an increase in transit ridership, along with greater walking and cycling.
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From page 111... ...
Emissions and Gasoline Consumption As with transit ridership, the impacts of car-sharing on emissions and gasoline consumption will largely depend on its net impact on vehicle travel. However, there may be additional benefits from the use of more fuel-efficient cars by car-sharing operators.
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From page 112... ...
In the Cervero research, weekdays/weekends and work/non-work days were analyzed separately. However, the only statistically significant change in vehicle travel was obtained for weekday work days – whereas any induced travel would be expected to be on weekends, when shared cars are used the most.
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From page 113... ...
Early adopters, many drawn from the ranks of environmentalists and avid cyclists who owned no car, began logging vehicle miles on the streets of San Francisco; with time, as the program has attracted a more mainstream clientele, the novelty of car-sharing has worn off, and members have shed car ownership, "induced travel" appears to have been replaced by "reduced travel."
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From page 114... ...
. There is even less information on the cost-effectiveness of car-sharing as a trip reduction strategy, given the difficulties in calculating both the public investment and the total reduction in vehicle travel.
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From page 115... ...
. Members who did not previously own a car increased annual VMT by 473 miles.
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From page 116... ...
, not all of the changes in vehicle miles should be attributed to their participation in car-sharing. Exhibit 4-11 Self-Reported Changes in Vehicle Travel Change in VMT After Joining Car-Sharing Percent of Respondents Reduced Travel By less than 50% 18.3% By more than 50% 27.5% No change reported 28.6% Increased vehicle travel By less than 50% 11.5% By more than 50% 14.7% Figures refer to respondents who provided both before and after information.
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From page 117... ...
• There were no substantial variations evident due to income or household size. In terms of percentage changes in vehicle miles traveled: • Auto ownership: There was a bi-modal split among the respondents who did not currently own cars, meaning that more than average numbers of respondents reported either a substantial percentage decrease in mileage (76% or more)
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From page 118... ...
Other Travel Behavior Impacts While a relatively small number of studies have examined changes in vehicle miles traveled – which generally requires the use of travel diaries – others have gathered more qualitative information on changes in travel behavior. Typically, questions ask whether the respondent walks, cycles or takes transit more or less after joining.
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From page 119... ...
Results from our internet survey support many of the positive travel behavior outcomes of car-sharing noted in other studies, in terms of both a reduction in vehicle travel and an increase in overall mobility. These qualitative outcomes are shown in Exhibit 4-13.
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From page 120... ...
Focusing on impacts, Exhibit 4-14 adds to demographic information from the internet survey presented in Chapter 3 by indicating how the impacts of car-sharing differ by demographic groups. Age seems to make the most difference of all the demographic variables, having particularly strong relationships in terms of making fewer trips by auto, using transit more often, and walking more often.
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From page 121... ...
Page 4-27 Car-Sharing: Where and How It Succeeds Exhibit 4-13 Effects of Car-Sharing Membership on Travel Behavior Effects of involvement in car-sharing Members Strongly disagree Disagree Neither agree or disagree Agree Strongly agree Make fewer trips by auto All 6.2% 10.0% 14.9% 35.3% 33.7% Gave up car 2.3% 4.2% 9.2% 36.4% 47.8% Save money on transportation All 6.3% 14.9% 16.7% 33.1% 29.0% Gave up car 3.5% 13.5% 14.7% 26.8% 41.5% Able to get to places I couldn't All 8.4% 6.0% 26.7% 26.3% 32.6% Gave up car 5.8% 5.1% 26.9% 27.6% 34.6% Able to travel more often All 9.1% 20.8% 25.4% 23.3% 21.4% Gave up car 9.1% 24.3% 28.4% 21.3% 16.9% Use transit more often All 9.7% 22.1% 28.6% 23.1% 16.6% Gave up car 8.7% 27.1% 31.0% 20.5% 12.7% Walk more often All 10.3% 18.1% 34.3% 22.6% 14.7% Gave up car 9.0% 21.8% 37.4% 20.9% 10.9% Can make more multi-purpose trips All 20.6% 12.1% 45.0% 8.3% 14.1% Gave up car 19.6% 13.5% 50.4% 6.4% 10.1% Source: Car-Sharing Member Survey.
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From page 122... ...
Members of one US and one Canadian company more often agreed or strongly agreed Walk more often 55 and older * Members of one US and one Canadian company more often agreed or strongly agreed; members of one US company more often disagreed Can make more multi-purpose trips Age 65 and over; not ages 24 and under Not car owners Incomes not less than $20,000 Members of one US company split their answers: they more often than average disagreed or agreed than members of other companies *
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From page 123... ...
Walk 75.2% Public transportation 18.6% Bicycle 8.7% Passenger in car 2.6% Taxi 0.9% Other 1.7% * Multiple responses permitted.
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From page 124... ...
On the one hand, car-sharing is clearly substituting for many transit trips. Members are choosing car-sharing because they had things to carry, for example, or had to make multiple stops (see Chapter 3)
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From page 125... ...
However, this threshold will vary considerably depending on: • The degree to which travel patterns change – e.g. if transit, walking or cycling substitutes for some trips previously made by automobile • The fee structure of the car-sharing operator, and the overall level of charges • The proportion of driving costs accounted for by car-sharing, and the degree to which rental cars and taxis are used where these would be cheaper for a given trip • The out-of-pocket costs of vehicle ownership, which may differ markedly from the AAA estimates – particularly if there are no car payments or finance charges outstanding, or (in the other direction)
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From page 126... ...
. In general, it can be assumed that most households and businesses will approach this decision in a rational, economic manner, and not substitute car-sharing for vehicle ownership if it would increase their driving costs.
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From page 127... ...
It is designed to be straightforward to add on to any form of member communication, such as an application form or market research effort, without the need for a dedicated survey. Naturally, this does not preclude car-sharing operators, their partners or independent researchers from adding questions or supplementing them with other research techniques such as travel diaries.
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From page 128... ...
• Do you hold a monthly or annual transit pass? • Approximately how many miles do you drive per year?
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From page 129... ...
This is attributable to lower monthly capital costs, lower insurance expenses, lower gasoline and maintenance expenses, and lowered parking expenses. But many car-sharing members report that not having "the hassles of car ownership" is an even greater benefit to them than saving money.
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From page 130... ...
. San Francisco City CarShare: Travel Demand Trends and Second-Year Impacts.
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From page 131... ...
. City CarShare Vehicle Ownership Survey.
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From page 132... ...
Washington, DC: Transportation Research Board. Lane, Clayton (2005)
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From page 133... ...
FirstYear Report. Arlington: Arlington County.
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From page 134... ...
Washington, DC: Transportation Research Board. Shoup, Donald (2005)
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