A study on the activation of car-sharing through the analysis of citizen’s perception based on experience: Focusing on Busan, South Korea

Abstract

A car-sharing system is being introduced to Korea and its application has been mainly accommodated by the private sector. As conflicts with the government’s regulations on transportation industries seems to interrupt the expansion of the services, the involvement of the public sector in taking the initiative is necessary. Accordingly, the perception of the citizens, who are the drivers of the operations, as well as the participants in policy implementation, must be examined. In this research, a plan to revitalize the shared transport was explored by closely examining the citizen’s perception on car-sharing, using the data conducted through an online survey of 500 people. The research took place in Busan, a metropolitan city with a population of about 3.4 million, where the involvement of public sector on car-sharing operations is significantly lacking. First, an importance-performance analysis was performed on the responses that had experienced car-sharing in the past. The result confirmed that the ways to reserve, pick-up/return, and the cost were the important factors on the user satisfaction. Second, we employed binary logistic regression based on the Stated Preference survey technique on the responses that had not experienced car-sharing, but with the intention to use car-sharing in the future. As a result, the probability of choosing car-sharing decreased as the cost and wait time increased. In particular, it has been found that returning a vehicle at a desired place is more than four times preferred than returning at the rented location. Based on the analysis, we concluded that the active engagement of the public sector is necessary in improving the efficiency of operations, such as the provisions on potential pick-up/return spots available for private operators, and policy implications to ease the regulatory standards.