Carsharing-facilitating neighbourhood choice: a mixed logit model

Abstract

Carsharing-facilitating neighbourhood is an emerging concept in urban development that combines carsharing, sustainable transportation-residential planning, and attractive housing to reduce private car use and improve neighbourhood quality. To investigate residents’ preferences for such neighbourhoods, a stated choice experiment was designed that systematically varied attributes of carsharing-facilitating neighbourhoods to elicit their utility for people with a particular socio-demographic profile. The survey was conducted among residents who currently live in densely populated urban areas in The Netherlands. In total, 610 valid responses were obtained for analysis. To derive the utility of carsharing-facilitating neighbourhoods of a particular profile, a mixed logit model was estimated. Results indicate that the utility of a carsharing-facilitating neighbourhood primarily depends on carsharing cost, required carsharing booking time, green space density, housing costs, housing type, housing size and housing building year. Besides, the utility varies with socio-demographic characteristics, such as age, household composition, net monthly income, work status and education level. The estimated results can help policymakers and real estate developers understand the contribution of particular factors to the utility of carsharing-facilitating neighbourhoods, and determine target groups to develop implementation strategies.