Efficiency evaluation model of car sharing for low-income people

Abstract

The newly emerged traffic mode, car sharing, is helpful to reduce energy consumption and traffic pressure. Low-income people, who have fewer options for transportation and little choice in terms of employment location, need to be paid more attention. In order to evaluate travel efficiency of car sharing system, this paper studied the commuting travel characters of low-income people, including their trip time, trip mode choice, trip length, trip frequency, and route choice each day. Then we put forward the evaluation indexes and studied the efficiency evaluation model of car sharing system and other traffic choices. Considering the characters of various traffic modes, we developed an efficiency index which including the total travel time, distance, and cost. Efficiency evaluation model of car sharing was built using the investigation data of travel mode selection. The results show that car sharing is an efficient traffic mode during peak hours in Beijing. The results are meaningful to guide the operation and management of urban public transport.