What about Free-Floating Carsharing?

Abstract

In recent years, carsharing has become a practical, ecological, and economical alternative to private car ownership around the world. Traditional carsharing is station-based, but new types of shared services have appeared recently. One of those is free-floating carsharing. It is more flexible, but what is its impact on user behavior? This paper aims to characterize the use of the free-floating carsharing service in central Montreal, Canada. Use of the traditional, station-based service and the new service was compared. Because some people were members of both services, it was possible to examine the specific contribution of each service to meeting travel needs. The impact of the introduction of this new transportation alternative was also examined. The results showed that compared with traditional carsharing, more women were members of the free-floating service and the trip distances and durations were much shorter. Shopping was the most important activity, and there was a concentration of trip ends near the central business district in the midday period. When asked what mode users would have used in the absence of the free-floating service, people mentioned public transit, taxis, and walking; the popularity of these alternatives varied, probably in relation to seasonal changes. Further studies are required to measure the environmental impact of this new transportation mode.