Free-floating carsharing and extemporaneous public transit substitution

Justin Tyndall

Research in Transportation Economics, 2019, vol. 74, issue C, 21-27

Abstract: The importance of substitution patterns between public transit and carsharing has been discussed in prior literature. This study provides empirical evidence of significant interaction between the two modes. On November 24, 2015 the public transit rail system in Vancouver, Canada experienced a significant service disruption due to an unforeseen mechanical failure. This study exploits this event as a natural experiment and investigates to what extent the city's largest carsharing service was utilized as a substitute. Extensive carsharing vehicle location data are used to examine how the carsharing network responded to the transit service disruption. Empirical results show a dramatic increase in the use of carsharing vehicles during the transit outage, particularly in areas close to affected transit stations. Through regression analysis, the quantity of vehicle trips accommodated by the carsharing system in response to the outage is estimated to be approximately 800. There is clear evidence of extemporaneous substitution between public transit and carsharing, suggesting the two modes act as parts of an integrated network.

Keywords: Carsharing; Transit; Mode choice; Sharing economy; Shared mobility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: R40 R41 R42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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DOI: 10.1016/j.retrec.2019.01.005

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