National Academies Press: OpenBook

Car-Sharing: Where and How It Succeeds (2005)

Chapter: Chapter 1 - Introduction

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Page 9
Suggested Citation:"Chapter 1 - Introduction." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2005. Car-Sharing: Where and How It Succeeds. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13559.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 1 - Introduction." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2005. Car-Sharing: Where and How It Succeeds. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13559.
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Page 10
Page 11
Suggested Citation:"Chapter 1 - Introduction." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2005. Car-Sharing: Where and How It Succeeds. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13559.
×
Page 11
Page 12
Suggested Citation:"Chapter 1 - Introduction." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2005. Car-Sharing: Where and How It Succeeds. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13559.
×
Page 12
Page 13
Suggested Citation:"Chapter 1 - Introduction." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2005. Car-Sharing: Where and How It Succeeds. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13559.
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Page 13

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Car-Sharing: Where and How It Succeeds Page 1-1 CHapter 1. IntroduCtIon 1.1 Introduction According to one of the earliest published articles on car-sharing, which referred to the concept as “community garages,” the concept had no chance of succeeding in the United States. The reason was ample parking and, more generally, the auto-oriented urban form prevalent in the U.S. Fishman and Wabe (1969, p. 442) concluded: The [community garage] plan proposed here has been made with the new town in mind, but it is just as applicable to most British towns and, with variation, to most British cities. Where it simply will not do is in the United States. American cities have, with almost no exception, become motor cities – adapted to the owner- driver form of transport. Numerous rivers of motorways disgorge their traffic into oceans of parking areas. At their “headwaters”, the motorway rivers can be traced through a vast stream network of subsidiary roads to their source, the innumerable cemented driveways and garages (with houses attached). It is now not uncommon in Los Angeles to see a private garage with room for five or six vehicles, much as an old stable had room for a half-dozen horses. The American city can no longer be adapted to a community garage scheme. Their path is ir- reversible, and they have gone beyond the point of no return. Fortunately, Fishman and Wabe’s pessimism was misplaced. Cer- tainly, a little more than five years ago, car-sharing in the United States was virtually non-existent beyond a handful of small-scale community-based initiatives and station car demonstration pro- grams. Since then, however, its growth has been rapid. The three largest operators – Flexcar, Zipcar and City CarShare – provide ser- vice in metropolitan regions from Seattle to Washington, DC. On top of this, a myriad of smaller-scale car-sharing, station car and other shared vehicle programs operate throughout the country. Meanwhile, Canadian operators – with longer experience than their U.S. coun- terparts – have introduced car-sharing to virtually every major city, and begun to expand to more suburban and rural areas. Writing more than 30 years ago, however, Fishman and Wabe were remarkably close in predicting the types of environments where car-sharing would succeed. Certainly, in the types of neighborhoods that they describe, car-sharing has not and is highly unlikely to take off. While a program has been established in the Los Angeles re- gion, it has focused on its transit-rich centers such as Santa Monica,

Chapter 1 • IntroduCtIon September 2005 Page 1-2 Pasadena and downtown. In contrast, car-sharing has expanded far more rapidly in communities where transit, walking and cycling play a great role. As documented in Chapter 3, the availability of alternatives to the private automobile, reflected through overall vehicle ownership levels, is one of the most important predictors of where car-sharing can succeed. Other critical questions that have still to be fully resolved relate to how car- sharing succeeds, and the public benefits that it brings. What potential does it have to change travel behavior, vehicle ownership patterns, and household transportation expenditure? To what types of markets does car-sharing ap- peal, and in what types of neighborhoods does it succeed? How can public agencies and other organizations foster the development of car-sharing, and use it to accomplish their goals? 1.2 research approach Unlike most transit agencies, which are the subject of the vast majority of TCRP research, car-sharing in North America is a competitive industry. This competitive nature has important implications for this research, because much of the detailed information on member characteristics, technology and operational performance is considered proprietary by car-sharing op- erators. Partly for this reason, and partly because operators are far ahead of public agencies and other partners on the car-sharing learning curve, this report does not attempt to provide a detailed manual on how to start up and operate car-sharing services.1 Instead, the study focuses on the role of partner organizations – transit agencies, local governments, regional planning agencies, employers and businesses, developers, universities and others with an interest in promot- ing the development of car-sharing. The report aims to provide them with an understanding of how car-sharing can contribute towards their goals, how they can contribute to its success, and how they can evaluate its per- formance. The findings in this report are based on a variety of research methodologies: • An extensive literature review, documented in the annotated bibli- ography provided in Appendix A • A web-based survey of car-sharing members, discussed in Chap- ters 3 and 4 1. For information on start-up and operational issues, please refer to Brook (2004) or City CarShare (2005).

Car-Sharing: Where and How It Succeeds Page 1-3 • Five focus groups with car-sharing members in San Francisco, Boston and Washington, DC, and an additional focus group with inactive or former car-sharing members (see Chapters 3 and 4) • A web-based survey and 72 telephone and face-to-face interviews with partner organizations involved in car-sharing, documented in Chapter 5 • A workshop with car-sharing operators, focusing on barriers to implementation and growth, and mechanisms for setting up part- nerships (Chapters 6 and 7) • An analysis of neighborhood characteristics around car-sharing locations, referred to as “pods” in this chapter (Chapter 3) Survey instruments and the agenda for the car-sharing operators workshop are provided in Appendix C. 1.3 report Structure The report consists of the following chapters: • Chapter 2, State of the Practice, provides a brief history of car- sharing, documents its current geographic scope, and discusses different organizational and operational models. It also analyzes the relationship of car-sharing to other modes; discusses cur- rent practices such as pricing, vehicle selection and technol- ogy; and addresses issues of definitions and terminology. • Chapter 3, Market Analysis, discusses both the characteristics of car-sharing members, and the demographic and physical characteristics of neighborhoods where car-sharing has been established. It finds that car-sharing primarily appeals to higher- educated (but not necessarily higher-income) households, who are concerned about environmental and social issues. The geo- graphic markets for car-sharing, in contrast, are most notable for their neighborhood and transportation characteristics, rather than overall education levels and other demographic variables. There is a particularly strong relationship with vehicle own- ership, suggesting that the availability of alternatives to the private car is key for the success of a car-sharing location. • Chapter 4, Impacts of Car-Sharing, confirms previous stud- ies that car-sharing has a substantial impact in reducing members’ vehicle ownership and travel, and reducing house- hold transportation costs. Equally significant is an increase in mobility, particularly for people who did not own a car be- fore and can now access a wider variety of destinations. • Chapter 5, The Role of Partners, discusses some of the ways in which partner organizations have tried to promote car-shar- ing. It focuses on the experience of five types of car-sharing

Chapter 1 • IntroduCtIon September 2005 Page 1-4 partners – local governments; transit agencies; employers and businesses; developers; and universities. These organizations have offered a wide variety of support, ranging from finan- cial support and provision of parking to supportive planning policies and joining the car share as an organizational mem- ber. Partner organizations hope to achieve multiple objec- tives from car-sharing, particularly reducing parking demand, providing mobility options, and improving air quality. • Chapter 6, Factors for Success, identifies some of the most important barriers to car-sharing and discusses how they can be overcome with the help of partner organizations. Specific barriers include a lack of understanding of the car-sharing concept; financial issues; regulatory constraints; and serv- ing specific markets such as low-income households. • Chapter 7, Procurement and Monitoring, focuses on the me- chanics of car-sharing partnerships. It covers procurement mechanisms and evaluation techniques, and details perfor- mance measures that can be used to track the effectiveness of car-sharing in achieving operator and agency goals. • Chapter 8, Conclusion, discusses some of the broader barri- ers to car-sharing that might be fruitfully tackled at a national level. It also analyzes different models for how car-sharing services can be established and provides guidance on how partners can bring car-sharing to their own communities. • Appendices include an annotated bibliography; a list of partner organizations surveyed and interviewed; survey instruments; and sample documents such as RFPs and zoning ordinances related to car-sharing. Appendix E, Partner Profiles, summarizes the key findings of the report from the perspective of different types of partner organizations to quickly understand the relevance of car-sharing and the research findings to their specific needs.

Car-Sharing: Where and How It Succeeds Page 1-5 references Brook, David (2004). Carsharing – Start Up Issues and New Operational Models. Paper presented at Transportation Research Board 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, January 11-15, 2004. City CarShare (2005). Bringing Car-Sharing to Your Community. San Fran- cisco: City CarShare. Available at www.citycarshare.org/download/CCS_ BCCtYC_Long.pdf. Fishman, Leslie and Wabe, J. Stuart (1969). “Restructuring the Form of Car Ownership: A Proposed Solution to the Problem of the Motor Car in the United Kingdom." Transportation Research, 3(4): 429-442.

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TRB’s Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Report 108: Car-Sharing--Where and How It Succeeds examines development and implementation of car-sharing services. Issues addressed in the report include the roles of car-sharing in enhancing mobility as part of the transportation system; the characteristics of car-sharing members and neighborhoods where car-sharing has been established; and the environmental, economic, and social impacts of car-sharing. The report also focuses on car-sharing promotional efforts, barriers to car-sharing and ways to mitigate these barriers, and procurement methods and evaluation techniques for achieving car-sharing goals.

Appendices A through E of TCRP Report 108 are included with the report on CRP-CD-60 that is packaged with the report. The appendices include an annotated bibliography; a list of partner organizations surveyed and interviewed; survey instruments; and sample documents such as Requests for Proposals (RFPs) and zoning ordinances related to car-sharing. Appendix E was designed as a resource for introducing organizations to car-sharing and encouraging partnerships to initiate car-sharing programs.

Links to the download site for the CRP-CD-60 and to instructions on burning an .ISO CD-ROM are below.

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