Carsharing Facilitating Neighborhood Choice And Commuting

Car commuters contribute significantly to carbon emissions and seem largely insensitive to dedicated modal shift transportation policy initiatives. Therefore, integrated policies that target multiple life domains may be more effective. In this study, we investigate commuters’ preferences for carsharing facilitating neighborhoods as well as their potential travel behaviors shift if they move to such neighborhoods. This policy, combining real estate, sustainable planning and transportation, aims to reduce neighborhoods parking needs and therefore parking facilities. In compensation, residents are provided convenient access to shared vehicles against lower costs and a better living environment, reflected in more green space or safer children playing areas or larger flats. To examine the potential interest in moving to such neighborhoods, a stated choice experiment is designed that systematically varies attributes of carsharing facilitating neighborhoods to elicit the utility of a carsharing facilitating neighborhood for commuters with a particular socio-demographic profile and commuting behavior. In total, 369 valid responses from commuters who currently live in urban areas in The Netherlands were gathered for the analysis. To derive the utility of carsharing facilitating neighborhoods of a particular profile, a mixed logit model is estimated. Results indicate that the utility of a carsharing facilitating neighborhood primarily depends on carsharing cost, housing costs and housing size. The utility varies with socio-demographic characteristics, such as living city, educational level, monthly income, work status and commuting behavior, measured in terms of private car ownership, carsharing subscription, commuting mode and commuting time. Regarding shifts in travel mode, 25.5% of the respondents stated that they would reduce private car ownership if they would live in a carsharing facilitating neighborhood. 32.8% of the respondents stated that they would use shared vehicles in such neighborhoods for travelling to the office, and 18.7% stated they would use them to access transit. These results can help real estate developers and policy makers understanding how to develop appealing carsharing facilitating neighbourhoods for targeted commuters groups.