Vehicle Relocation in One-Way Carsharing: A Review

Afnan Fayez Eliyan () and Laoucine Kerbache
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Afnan Fayez Eliyan: Division of Engineering Management and Decision Sciences, College of Science and Engineering, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar Foundation, Doha 34110, Qatar
Laoucine Kerbache: Division of Engineering Management and Decision Sciences, College of Science and Engineering, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar Foundation, Doha 34110, Qatar

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 3, 1-28

Abstract: Carsharing has become increasingly popular in recent years as a sustainable transportation solution, offering individuals access to shared vehicles on a short-term basis. One-way carsharing, in particular, presents unique challenges due to its flexible nature, allowing users to pick up and drop off vehicles at different locations within a designated service area. This flexibility increases the service ridership but comes at the expense of vehicle imbalance among the stations, as some stations may have excess vehicles while other stations have vehicle shortages. Therefore, carsharing companies need to decide on strategies to ensure a balanced distribution of vehicles among the stations. This is essential as unbalanced vehicle distribution can lead to an unavailability of vehicles when needed or, conversely, result in an increased number of unnecessary rebalancing trips, thereby exacerbating traffic congestion and environmental pollution. Such issues can potentially undermine the overall contribution of carsharing to urban sustainability. To this end, this paper reviews the vehicle imbalance problem that arises in this field and the solution algorithms that solve them.

Keywords: carsharing; vehicle balancing; resource dimensioning; fleet management; trip pricing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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