Increasing acceptance of free-floating car sharing systems using smart relocation strategies

Abstract

Rapid growth rates seem to indicate that recently introduced free-floating car sharing (FFCS) can mean a breakthrough for the car sharing idea. Like other vehicle sharing systems, FFCS systems face significant regional demand fluctuations. Thus, providers might have to reposition empty vehicles to not lose potential customers. However, this aspect has been hardly examined in research and practice. This study aims to investigate appropriate relocation strategies for this new type of car sharing systems regarding the case of car2go. For this purpose a survey based evaluation was conducted, new relocation strategies were developed, and a discrete-event simulation model for the evaluation with real time data from car2go was drafted. The results indicate that availability of cars is crucial for customer acceptance, but customers are open for smart relocation strategies. Furthermore, the developed simulation approach provides the basis for an in-depth analysis of various strategies with different objectives using a realistic demand forecast.