Carsharing services in sustainable urban transport: An inclusive science map of the field

Abstract

Vehicle sharing, electrification, and automation, as the triple revolutions in urban transportation, have been under debate towards a new transport paradigm. In this regard, carsharing services, as a potential solution for sustainable urban transport, have gained momentum within the context of sustainable cities in recent years. This research, as the first attempt in the literature, aims to render a comprehensive map of the body of knowledge in the carsharing field of research through conducting a systematic bibliometric analysis. To achieve that, a total of 729 peer-reviewed journal articles from the Web of Science database were scrutinized using keyword, text mining, and bibliographic coupling analyses. The analyses revealed four main research themes building the carsharing literature, including (1) collaborative consumption and carsharing business models development in the context of sustainable urban transport, (2) carsharing adoption with a special focus on user behavior, intention, and preferences, (3) carsharing operational challenges, considering infrastructure and fleet management, and (4) technological advancement towards deployment of shared autonomous vehicles and mobility as a service. The results showed that the carsharing literature lacks (i) a well-established and comprehensive long-term sustainability assessment framework, (ii) inclusive and integrative marketing and training plans, as well as effective incentives, (iii) a holistic analysis of the role of carsharing in the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals, (iv) reliable circular economy indicators designed to measure the circularity of carsharing to help transitioning towards a circular economy, and (v) a timely broad analysis on the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic and the future of carsharing post pandemic era, which call for more investigations in the future. The provided insights support both researchers and policy-makers by shedding light on carsharing services research by providing a state-of-the-art of carsharing studies and developments up to date, uncovering the emergent research themes and trends, and identifying research gaps for future studies towards better positioning carsharing services in sustainable cities development.