An optimization framework for the development of efficient one-way car-sharing systems

Boyacı, Burak and Geroliminis, Nikolas and Zografos, K. G. (2013) An optimization framework for the development of efficient one-way car-sharing systems. In: STRC 2013 – 13th Swiss Transport Research Conference, 2013-04-24 - 2013-04-26, Monte Verita.

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Abstract

Environmental, energy, and societal considerations have given rise to the concept of shared-vehicle mobility systems. This concept postulates that the use of a fleet of vehicles made available on demand to the general public on a rental basis, can increase the mobility of certain population categories. In addition to mobility enhancement, shared-vehicle mobility systems have the potential to contribute to the sustainability of the transportation system through the decrease of environmental impacts, energy and space requirements (Duncan, 2011). As a consequence of the promises that shared-vehicle mobility systems hold, numerous such systems have been introduced in many cities around the world (Barth et al., 2006). However, most of the real-world applications of the car-sharing systems works in two ways, i.e. the vehicle should be returned to where it is rented from. Although there are some examples of one-way car-sharing systems in practice, they are not preferred by the operators because of their operational difficulties (e.g. relocations of vehicles). In this research we aim to propose a generic model for supporting the strategic (station location and size) and tactical (fleet size) decisions of a general one-way car-sharing system, with a direct application in a case study in Nice, France. For this purpose, a mathematical model is formulated and sensitivity analysis is conducted for different parameters. As a future work, we plan to work on the operational problem which considers requests on-line and updates vehicle rosters accordingly.