Shared mobility: potential benefits and real impacts
Title of the research project
STARS - Shared mobility opporTunities And challenges foR European citieS
Scientific area
Transport Engineering, Social and Behavioural Science, Industrial and Transport Economics
Abstract
The rise of shared vehicle services in Europe calls for a reflection on the gap between potential benefits and real impacts. STARS will define future shared mobility scenarios, will assess their related potential benefits and will develop decision support tools for policy makers to achieve them.
Description of the research project
Car sharing is rapidly growing in Europe with estimates of more than 2.2 million members of a car sharing service in 2014 (+79% compared to 2012). Nonetheless, many issues still need to be clarified in order to orient the development of such services towards the maximisation of its potential benefits.
STARS intends to close the gap between the potential benefits of shared vehicle services, with special emphasis on the innovative forms enabled by recent technology applications in the transport sector, and their real impacts in terms of congestion mitigation, environmental footprints and social inclusion, that are mediated by both individual preferences and social innovation patterns.
Knowledge and research methods from transport engineering, environmental psychology and economics will be jointly exploited in order to compare and benchmark existing business models and social innovations, and to assess the implications of car sharing schemes for the industry and local communities, alongside the following main Work Packages:
- Analysis of actual status and trends of car sharing in European cities;
- Inventory of existing business models for car sharing services and review of impacts on the automobility market and automotive industry;
- Assessment of the determinants of the behavioral change towards sharing mobility;
- Analysis of car sharing scenarios and benefits through co‐modality and development of an integrated decision support tool for policy makers;
- Analysis of projected impacts on the automotive sector and identification of new business models.
Impact on society
The research will lead to quantitatively define the optimal co-modality, i.e. the optimal mix of different travel modes, when car sharing services are offered. Such more systematic picture of the relationship between different settings of car sharing services and corresponding impacts in terms of modal diversion will allow policy makers to individuate the most appropriate mix of measures to achieve the optimal modal mix given a stated policy objective. The project will therefore create tools to select car sharing solutions maximizing environmental sustainability and social equity benefits and to pay specific attention to different social groups.
Working group @Polito
Marco Diana, Associated Professor, Project coordinator
Francesco Deflorio, Researcher at DIATI
Miriam Pirra, Research assistant
Riccardo Ceccato, PhD student
Silvia Antonietti, Project management & fund raising office, DIATI
Elisa Vanin, Quality and Third mission, DIATI
National and International Partners
Autodelen.Net, Vlaams Netwerk Autodelen, Belgium
Goeteborgs Universitet, Sweden
Bundesverband Carsharing E. V., Germany
GM Global Propulsion Systems - Torino Srl, Italy
Freie Hansestadt Bremen, Germany
LGI Consulting Sarl, France
Cardiff University, United Kingdom
ICLEI European Secretariat Gmbh, Germany
STARS project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 769513
Web site- Budget: 1.805.665 EUR
- Start date: 1/10/2017
- End date: 31/03/2020