Steve Raney Palo Alto Jan 29, 2007 23:37 pm

This 19-pager seemed like a super Transportation Research Board Conference car trip reduction paper to me. It demonstrates a very rigorous approach to identifying the best markets for carsharing, but the approach should help some other CBSM2FSB programs in need of sophisticated market identification. Census GIS data can be a powerful analytical tool to figure out where it's best to implement a sustainability program.

Link to paper: http://www.stanford.edu/~adammb/Where%20Does%20Car-Sharing%20Succeed%20TRB%2 02007.pdf

title: WHERE DOES CAR-SHARING WORK? USING GIS TO ASSESS MARKET POTENTIAL
by Christine Celsor, City of Fremont, Planning Division, Fremont, CA
Adam Millard-Ball, Stanford University and Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates

ABSTRACT This paper examines and applies a tool to assess the market potential for new car-sharing operations in urban communities. The research reported in this paper is based the analysis conducted for TCRP Report 108: Car-Sharing: Where and How it Succeeds. The paper analyzes geographic market segments in urban areas. A GIS-based analysis of 13 US regions finds that neighborhood and transportation characteristics are more important indicators for car-sharing success than individual demographics of car-sharing members. The results indicate that vehicle ownership has the strongest, most consistent correlation to the amount of car-sharing service in a neighborhood. Based on the results from this analysis, thresholds are outlined for low service, where car-sharing may be viable but where limited growth can be expected; and high service, where car-sharing is likely to flourish. This tool to identify neighborhoods that can support car-sharing is applied to a new community seeking to establish a car-sharing program: Austin, Texas. The analysis finds that several neighborhoods in Austin have the characteristics to support car-sharing, such as low vehicle ownership rates and high percentages of one-person households. However, there are few Austin neighborhoods that could support a high level of car-sharing service.

The much longer TCRP 108 report can be found at: http://www.nelsonnygaard.com/articles/article_carsharing.htm

- Steve Raney,
Cities21, Palo Alto, CA