Multi-criteria Sustainability Assessment in Transportation: Private Car, Car-Sharing, and Transit Bus

摘要

This study updates the state of the art in three main areas: (ⅰ) employs a life cycle approach ofvehicles instead of focusing only on the operation of modes; (ⅱ) disaggregates vehicles by typeinstead of assuming a uniform light-duty vehicle fleet; and (ⅲ) assesses conventional and hybridtechnologies explicitly for different travel mode combinations instead of assuming only fossilfuel powered vehicles and private cars. The three travel mode combinations were: (a) passengervehicle only, (b) passenger vehicle and public bus, and © car-sharing and public bus.Six highway vehicles and modes are analyzed: an internal combustion engine (ICEV), a hybridelectric vehicle (HEV), a car-sharing program with ICEV, a car-sharing program with HEV, adiesel bus, and a hybrid diesel electric bus. Car-sharing is a service that provides to its memberslow cost mobility; it enables a more efficient use of vehicles and it is dominant when a privatevehicle is required and other modes of transport are not sufficient.The most sustainable vehicle relative to the other five is found to be car-sharing with hybridelectric vehicle for all three cases examined. The superior performance of car-sharing over transitbus reveals the important role of policies towards sustainable transportation. Privately ownedvehicles that are ranked in the last two positions are propelled to the top two positions when areused in a car-sharing program.