Just kidding about the partying.If you haven't made up your mind, it's not too late. Details about the conference, registration and interactive program is here.
Below I've posted the full abstracts of the carsharing sessions. Note that Session 559 is an informal Poster Session and not the typical paper and Powerpoint session.
I will add information about the annual carsharing and AP 020 Subcommittee meetings.
I'll be at the Washington Hilton on Tuesday and Wednesday and would love to meet people starting Monday night. Send me a message. Thanks.
Session 491
Travel Behavior and Carsharing: New Insights Tuesday, January 15, 2013 8:00AM - 9:45AM Hilton, Columbia Hall 8Lectern Session
Francesco Ciari, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, presiding
| Unraveling the Travel Behavior of Carsharing Members from GPS Traces
Benoit Leclerc, Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, Canada, presenter
Martin Trepanier, École Polytechnique de Montréal, Canada, presenter
Catherine Morency, École Polytechnique de Montréal, Canada, presenter
As carsharing becomes increasingly popular over the world, it is interesting to better understand the underlying characteristics of the trips made by the members when they use the cars. Up to this day, few studies reported on the details of trips. This paper presents a methodology that can be used to analyse three components of a carsharing member journey: the locations of its stops, the attributes of its trips and the characteristics of trip chaining. The method is based on the processing of GPS traces collected aboard carsharing vehicles. It uses a 5-minute stop identification criterion to cut the trip chains into separate trips. The case study is the Communauto system in the Montreal area, Canada. The study shows that carsharing members will make more trips during their trip chains than typical car owners. However, carsharing trips are shorter and often conducted for utilitarian purposes (shopping, visits) and not for work. Members tend to optimize the use of the cars during their rental time (up to 50% of the time in movement for short trip chains, 30% for longer duration).
| 13-1705 |
| Qualitative Insights on the Travel Behavior Effects of Joining a Carshare
Kiron Chatterjee, University of the West of England, United Kingdom, presenter
Geoffrey Paul Andrews, University of the West of England, United Kingdom, presenter
Miriam Ricci, University of the West of England, United Kingdom, presenter
Graham Parkhurst, University of the West of England, United Kingdom, presenter
Carsharing organisations (‘carshares’) provide collectively-available vehicles that can be booked for exclusive use on a ‘pay-as-you-go’ basis. Previous research has shown that there are two groups who join carshares: accessors, who do not have a car on joining a carshare and gain access to one; and shedders, who give up a car on joining a carshare. The paper examines the circumstances and motivations for accessors and shedders to join a carshare, changes to their travel behaviour in the short and longer run and how their behaviour might have changed if they had not joined. This is achieved through in-depth interviews of members of a carshare in the city of Bath in the UK. It is found that the carshare attracted those already contemplating giving up their car or triggered to consider giving up their car ownership by life events. Joining a carshare prevents acquisition of cars for some members but some subsequently take opportunities to acquire cars as circumstances change. Once shedders become members it is found they adapt to managing without a personal car and use a variety of transport modes, planning their activity-travel schedules in advance and taking into account costs and convenience of different options. The increasing popularity of new mobility options such as carsharing also has implications for the methods used to analyse and model travel behaviour. The options of joining a carshare and using carshare vehicles should be included in transport models for areas where carshares operate.
| 13-4590 |
| The Market and Impacts of New Types of Carsharing Systems: Case Study of Greater London
Scott Le Vine, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, United Kingdom, presenter
Aruna Sivakumar, Imperial College London, United Kingdom, presenter
Martin E. H. Lee-Gosselin, Universite Laval, Canada, presenter
John W. Polak, Imperial College London, United Kingdom, presenter
Short-term car rental services known as Carsharing (CS) have grown rapidly from a very small base over the past decade. They are primarily found in dense urban areas in the developed world though they are reaching beyond this comfort zone in several ways. There are now more than a million subscribers worldwide. CS services generally require public sector support, though this is not always the case and may be less so in the future. Some CS systems are publicly-funded, but policymakers are taking note of this mode of transport for several other reasons as well: it affects use of other forms of transportation, it impacts on important outcomes such as emissions and parking needs, and it uses privileged access to publicly-owned on-street space. At the moment policymakers must make decisions on a very limited evidence base, in particular as regards new types of CS systems. To date a small number of studies have attempted to forecast how widespread CS services might become and the likely impacts. This paper presents forecasts prepared with a newly-developed methodology using London, England as a case study. We show that the potential market and impacts of CS systems are highly-dependent on the specific service features.
| 13-4389 |
| Smart Devices and Travel Time Use by Bus Passengers in Vancouver, Canada
Zhan Guo, New York University, presenter
Alexandra Derian, New York University, presenter
Jinhua Zhao, University of British Columbia, Canada, presenter
This research investigates bus passengers’ activity patterns and the usage of smart devices at bus stops and on buses. Using both passive observations and self-reported surveys mainly from college students in Vancouver, Canada, it found that the majority of passengers used their time actively instead of doing nothing. Most of the observed active activities are associated with the usage of smart devices. Although the possession of smart devices is prevalent, only a small portion of passengers (less than a third) actually use them during travel. A variety of environmental and trip factors, personal attributes, and past experiences influence the usage of smart devices, but only explain the variation marginally. Research also found that the usage of smart devices encourages multitasking both at bus stops and on buses. Smart phones are the most conducive to multitasking, followed by iPod/MP3 players, and iPads/tablets.
| 13-4274 |
Session 559
Latest Trends in Bike-, Car-, and Ridesharing Tuesday, January 15, 2013 10:45AM - 12:30PM Hilton, International CenterPoster Session
Susan A. Shaheen, University of California, Berkeley, presiding
| Allocation Optimization of Bicyclesharing System at Scenic Spots: Case Study
Tangyi Guo, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, China, presenter
Jun Liu, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, China, presenter
Hu Qizhou, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, China, presenter
Mao Ye, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, China, presenter
Bicycle-sharing system is considered as a green option to provide a better connection between scenic spots and nearby metro/bus stations. This paper focuses on allocating and optimizing the layout of bicycle-sharing system inside the scenic spot and around its influencing area. It is found that the terrain, land use, nearby transport network and scenery point distribution have significant impact on the allocation of bicycle-sharing system. While the candidate bicycle-sharing stations installed at the inner scenic points, entrances/exits and metro stations are fixed, unmovable, the ones installed at bus-stations and other passenger concentration buildings are adjustable. Aiming at minimizing the total cycling distance and overlapping rate, an optimization model is proposed and solved based on the idea of cluster concept and greedy heuristic. A RP/SP combined survey was conducted at Xuanwu Lake in Nanjing, China to get an insight into the touring trip characteristics and bicycle-sharing tendency. The results revealed that 39.81% visitors accept a cycling distance of 1~3 km and 62.50% respondents think that the bicycle-sharing system should charge an appropriate fee. The survey indicates there is high possibility to carryout bicycle-sharing system at Xuanwu Lake. Optimizing the allocation problem cluster by cluster rather than using exhaustive search method significantly reduces the computing amount from O(243) to O(432). The 500m-radius-coverage rate for the alternative optimized by 500m-radius -cluster and 800m-radius- cluster is 89.2% and 68.5%, respectively. The final layout scheme will provide decision makers engineering guidelines and theoretical support.
| 13-3792 | B01 |
| A Mode-Neutral Innovation Framework for Commuter Transport: Part 1
Paul Minett, Trip Convergence Ltd., New Zealand, presenter
John H. Pearce, Trip Convergence Ltd., New Zealand, presenter
Innovation in all fields is recognized as a high risk activity, with many more failures than successes. In commercial product and service innovation, “Customer-Outcome Driven” innovation has been recognized by leading companies as a more effective foundation for innovation. Central to the outcome-driven approach is the methodical identification of desired customer outcomes and the use of survey data to identify underserved outcomes that represent opportunities for development of innovative solutions. This paper explores the application of this technique to commuter travel, to the job of ‘making a daily trip to and from a destination’, with the overall goal of understanding what it would take to increase “passengership” and concludes that the approach delivers potentially useful results. Further research is recommended, and the authors call for metropolitan areas to help with further data collection, solution development and deployment.
| 13-0838 | B02 |
| Demand of Bike-Sharing Travels: Evidence from Washington, D.C.
Nobuhiko Daito, George Mason University, presenter
Zhenhua Chen, George Mason University, presenter
In recent years, bicycle sharing programs have gained much popularity in a number of cities in the United States and other nations. However, the demand for bike sharing travel is still not well understood. This paper investigates the characteristics of bike sharing travel demand, focusing on the Capital Bikeshare Program in Washington, D.C. Based on the detailed daily trip data from September 15, 2010 to March 31, 2012, a time-series analysis finds that an increase in the number of bike stations has a strong positive influence on bike sharing travel demand. In addition, weather and temperature are found to have significant associations with the Bikeshare usage as well. The study offers an optimistic view of the further expansion of the program in the greater Washington metropolitan region.
| 13-3869 | B03 |
| Using a Multi-agent Simulation Tool to Estimate the Carpooling Potential
Thibaut Dubernet, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, presenter
Nadine Rieser-Schüssler, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, presenter
Kay W. Axhausen, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, presenter
It is a general trend in transportation planning to try to minimize the negative externalities of the transport system as a whole, such as noise or pollutant emissions. One of the ways to achieve this is to reduce the number of cars on the roads, for instance by increasing car occupancy. This paper focuses on evaluating the potential of this possibility. The factors influencing this potential are manifold: behavioral, structural (number of potential matches), organisational (quality of available services to meet co-travelers)... In previous studies, mainly the behavioral and organisational factors were analyzed. This paper focuses on the structural factor. To do so, the highly detailed daily plans generated by the multi-agent microsimulation software MATSim are searched for potential matches. Information about the potential matches is used to assess the feasibility of carpooling. In particular, it is shown that when considering only structural factors, it is possible to group most of the car trips into two-person car-pools. The results of the analysis lead to the conclusion that there is no structural obstacle to carpooling development, and thus that the causes of the low share of this mode is to search in both the behavioral and organisational factors.
| 13-0866 | B04 |
| Integrating Shared-Use Vehicles: Building the Next Generation of Transit
Lauren Alpert, State University of New York, Albany, presenter
This paper serves as an introduction to practitioners on shared use vehicles and several strategies to implement and integrate shared use vehicles into an existing transit or transportation network. The shared use vehicles identified are ride sharing, car sharing and bike sharing. The history and current market of each mode is reviewed. The paper includes a review of research of transit integration. The integration methods suggested is integration through street infrastructure, the fare card and information technology. Challenges of each integration method are reviewed and several case studies are explored. A policy implementation chart is included to guide practitioners in municipal government to implement an integrated transportation system that includes shared use vehicles.
| 13-1332 | B06 |
| Residential On-Site Carsharing and Off-Street Parking: The Case of San Francisco Bay Area
Charles Richard Rivasplata, San Jose State University, presenter
Zhan Guo, New York University, presenter
Richard W. Lee, Fehr & Peers, presenter
David Keyon, San Jose State University, presenter
This research explores the recent practice of connecting on-site carsharing service with off-street parking standards in multifamily developments, using the San Francisco Bay Area as a case study. If implemented well, such a policy could help boost the carsharing industry and help reduce off-street parking, which is often criticized as being oversupplied, primarily due to the excessive off-street parking standard. We surveyed all carsharing sites in the Bay Area and all new residential developments (completed after 2000) with on-site carsharing spaces in 2011. We found that a significant number of carsharing spaces are located on residential properties, but most of them (70 percent) have been retrofitted into existing buildings. For the new developments, on-site carsharing did not result in a reduction in the amount of regular off-street parking. Interviews with 15 professionals from three stakeholder groups (i.e., planners, developers, and service providers) revealed that even though all stakeholders are in favor of on-site carsharing at residential developments, three major barriers exist: the lack of incentives, the complexity of access design, and high transaction costs.
| 13-4296 | B08 |
| Evolution and Lessons from China Mainland Bikesharing Systems
Yang Tang, Tongji University, China, presenter
Haixiao Pan, Tongji University, China, presenter
Qiaoyin Lu, Tongji University, China, presenter
Like other global cities, bike-sharing grows rapidly in China mainland. Currently, bike-sharing researches and cases studies mostly focus on European and American cities, only few papers study on the fast growing bike-sharing systems in China. This paper aims to describe the development of bike-sharing in China mainland, and to summarize the experience and lessons from these systems. According to the data collection, interview with bike-sharing planners, operators and government managers and comparison among different case cities, the paper first introduces the status of all bike-sharing systems in China mainland cities which already existed or under construction/planning. Experience and lessons are drawn from these operating systems through six perspectives: the role of government, management model, common perspective and criterion, systematic research, the promotion of bicycle transportation and innovative service. This study may provide invaluable reference for other Chinese cities which hope for upgrading their bike-sharing system. It is also a good addition to the literature collection on bike-sharing as an approach to promote green transportation.
| 13-5075 | C02 |
Session 818
Innovations in Carsharing OperationsWednesday, January 16, 2013 4:30PM - 6:00PM Hilton, Georgetown EastLectern Session
Scott LeVine, Imperial College London, United Kingdom, presiding
| Title | Presentation Number |
|---|---|
| Managing Dynamic Vehicle Allocation for Carsharing Systems: Stochastic Programming Approach
Wei Fan, University of Texas, Tyler, presenter
Yongneng Xu, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, China, presenter
Carsharing offers innovative mobility solutions and has been gaining in popularity around the world as an environmentally sustainable, socially responsible and economically feasible mode of transport. It allows members to gain the benefits of private vehicle use without the costs and responsibilities of ownership and provides individuals access to a fleet of shared-use vehicles in a network of locations on a short term as-needed basis. This paper seeks to develop a stochastic optimization framework to address the dynamic vehicle allocation problem for carsharing systems, in which the service operator needs to manage and determine the optimal vehicle allocation in both time and space in order to maximize profits. A multistage stochastic linear programming model with recourse, which can account for system uncertainties such as carsharing demand variation, is formulated and solved. Numerical results are discussed and computational insights are presented based upon a seven-stage experimental network pilot study.
| 13-0324 |
| Dynamic Transit Service Through Open Mode Integrated Transportation System
Huiming M. Yin, Columbia University, presenter
Liang Wang, Columbia University, presenter
Paul Maurin, Columbia University, presenter
This paper presents an overview of the Open Mode Integrated Transportation System (OMITS), introduces its key components and algorithms in the recent development and implementation, and demonstrates the working mechanism of dynamic transit service. The OMITS has been designed to integrate the availability of multiple transit modes into the ridesharing service to provide riders and drivers flexible, efficient, and reliable transportation services, through dynamic matching and routing algorithms and emerging information communication and data mining and fusion technologies. The OMITS App, which is run on a smart phone (iPhone or Android), has been developed for customers to communicate with the OMITS server, detect roadway traffic conditions, and receive driving directions. The travel time for a road section is predicted considering the traffic factors through the historic and real-time traffic data and public transit schedule. Using the multimodal travel system, the OMITS integrates multimodal transit options including the information of time-dependent arc weights, namely travel time, and switching delays and provides the time-dependent multimodal shortest path using the Dijkstra’s algorithm under the FIFO condition. The OMITS system provides an optimized ridesharing and transit service based on spontaneous transportation demands and service availability. A small scale OMITS prototype has been developed and tested in New York City. An example is presented to demonstrate the dynamic transit service algorithm.
| 13-4385 |
| Comparing Optimal Relocation Operations with Simulated Relocation Policies in One-Way Carsharing Systems
Diana Rita Ramos Jorge, University of Coimbra, Portugal, presenter
Gonçalo Homem de Almeida Correia, University of Coimbra, Portugal, presenter
Cynthia Barnhart, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, presenter
One-way carsharing systems allow travelers to pick up a car at one station and return it to a different station, thereby causing vehicle imbalances across the stations. In this paper, realistic ways to mitigate that imbalance by relocating vehicles are discussed. Also presented are a new mathematical model to optimize relocation operations that maximize the profitability of the carsharing service and a simulation model to study different real-time relocation policies. Both methods were applied to networks of stations in Lisbon Portugal. Results show that real-time relocation policies, and these policies when combined with optimization techniques, can produce significant increases in profit. In the case where the carsharing system provides maximum coverage of the city area, imbalances in the network resulted in an operating loss of 1160 €/day when no relocation operations were performed. When relocation policies were applied, however, the simulation results indicate that profits of 854 €/day could be achieved, even with increased costs due to relocations. This improvement was achieved through reductions in the number of vehicles needed to satisfy demand and the number of parking spaces needed at stations. This is a key result that demonstrates the importance of relocation operations for sustainably providing a more comprehensive network of stations in one-way carsharing systems, thus reaching a higher number of users in a city.
| 13-4559 |
| Implementation Cost Comparison of Different Types of Electric Vehicle Energy Replenishment Technologies for Public Transit Bus Systems
Paulo Kemper Filho, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, presenter
In-Soo Suh, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, presenter
Several different technologies have been developed in order to improve the usage of electric vehicles. Some of the core technologies are those which regard the replenishment of the energy supply. Essentially different in operation, execution time, and implementation and operation costs, to find a fair comparison between those technologies is not a straightforward task. A model using Petri Nets to calculate the minimum amount of resources required to implement each of the solutions is proposed. The model uses as input the target headway (i.e. the time distance between two consecutive buses) and the components cost, and yields a total system cost to achieve that headway. A case study is presented to illustrate the use of such model.
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