You may have seen the recent flurry of press releases singing the praises of the the City of Arlington, Virginia's pilot carsharing partnership program. The program is a part of Arlington's "Way To Go Arlington" initiative, which also includes encouraging residents to use public transportation, walk, or ride bikes whenever possible.
The city has now issued an impressive report of the results of the pilot program, written by Jeff Price and Chris Hamilton. In addition to their own data, the city participated in the Nelson-Nygaard's carsharing research for TRB conducted by Adam Millard-Ball, which is summarized in the report.
Among the results are:
Vehicles serving the area (both companies) - 12 off street before; 28 on-street after - 125%
Membership Growth (both companies) - 1180 to 2546 - 116%
VMT reduction - 40%
Members more confident in carsharing because of partnership with city - 86%
Cars removed from the road per carsharing vehicle - 6-20
The report says, "The Pilot Carshare Program survey results suggest that carshare members are less likely to sell an existing car, but more likely to put off purchasing a new car... If carsharing did not exist, more respondents would rely more on personal car use. When Millard-Ball and the Pilot Carshare Program surveys asked what people would do if carsharing services stopped, 30.5% of Millard-Ball and 41% of Arlington respondents said they would buy a car. This translates into the potential for 820 automobiles to be added to Arlington’s streets if carsharing services ceased to operate."
Arlington's carsharing website and link to download the 20 page report can be found at the link below.
