CarLink Economics: An Empirically-Based Scenario Analysis.

摘要

Most cars carry one person and are used for less than one hour per day. A more economically rational approach would be to use vehicles more intensively. Carsharing, in which individuals share a fleet of vehicles, is one such strategy. Smart carsharing employs advanced technologies to facilitate tracking, billing, and system management. CarLink, a smart carsharing system, was deployed in the San Francisco Bay Area for ten months in 1999 to test this concept. This paper describes the CarLink economic data, and through scenario analysis, identifies several market conditions in which carsharing could become more economically viable. Our study found that CarLink could be sustainable when there is strong cooperation with local businesses, higher user fees are generated, and technology and management costs are lowered. Most trips in U.S. metropolitan regions are driven alone, which is costly to individuals and society and leads to congestion and air pollution. A more efficient, but less convenient, system would allow drivers to share cars. A shared-use system aims to reduce traffic by reducing the number of cars needed by households and encouraging commuters to walk, bike, and use transit, at least for part of their trips. For commuters and employers especially, shared-use vehicles could offer a low-cost, low-hassle alternative to private vehicles.