1. Public Electric Vehicle Sharing Program (PEVSP)
1.1 Electric Vehicle
The second initiative of this scenario is to establish a Public Electric Vehicle Sharing Program (PEVSP). BBRT aims to change San Francisco’s travel pattern from driving to walking, bicycling and transit. However, there are still about 350,000 private vehicles in the city. Even they are not using as usual; they are a huge potential emission source. PEVSP is a way to replace these existing internal combustion vehicles to reduce GHG emissions and congestion while retaining people’s need for special mobility.
The concerns about energy independence and climate change issues are growing rapidly all over the world. Energy independence is one of the biggest political issues in the USA. About two-thirds of the nation’s oil consumption are imported, and essentially, almost all the fuel use for transportation purposes (Guille & Gross, 2009). This strong energy dependence of foreign sources and the rising environmental and social awareness motivate many new transportation technologies. All those technologies aim to produce vehicles with more fuel-efficient or using alternative energy to reduce the need for oil. Electric vehicle is one of the most attractive technologies that can directly address these issues. Several studies have shown that electric vehicles can reduce local air pollution and traffic noise (Brady and O’Mahony, 2011; Hawkins et al., 2013), and may cut back GHG emissions from transportation sector (Brouwer et al., 2013). It is no doubt that San Francisco should consider electric vehicles as a serious alternative to conventional internal combustion vehicles. Electric vehicles have no local greenhouse gas emission, no need for oil, and very quiet. However, they are currently cannot compete with internal combustion vehicles because of the high cost and the lack of infrastructure support (Goeke & Schneider, 2015). Therefore, this scenario needs governments and private companies to provide more incentives and infrastructures to further boost this electrification trend. 1.2 Integration of Electric Vehicle and Car-sharing A survey on congestion, environmental and accident costs of transport (Button, 1993) has shown that the increase of private vehicles raising these problems in urban traffic. Therefore, car-sharing has developed as a new transit trend in many European cities (Steininger & Zettl, 1996). The shift in trip structure and distance has highlighted the benefits of car-sharing in terms of social considerations, economical considerations and environmental considerations. These benefits include reducing parking demand, saving the costs from vehicle purchase and maintenance, and reducing environmental impacts (Efthymiou et al., 2013). Car-sharing is a rising transportation industry in which users access a fleet of shared vehicles for short-term use (Kent & Dowling, 2013). It can be classified into three types: neighborhood car-sharing, station car-sharing and multimodal car-sharing (Barth & Shaheen, 2002). A well-developed car-sharing system can encourage people to leave their private vehicles by providing convenient access to a vehicle only when needed while giving benefits from reducing cost of owning a private vehicle (Martin & Shaheen, 2011a). Car-sharing is a big concept that includes many business and management models (Shaheen & Cohen, 2012). It can be one-way, peer-to-peer, or integrate into an existing public transport system. Car-sharing organizations can be non-profit organizations, for-profit companies, or community cooperations (Hampshire and Gaites, 2011). Many city governments have realized the benefits of both electric vehicles and car-sharing, and are trying to integrate these two new industries in numerous ways by providing financial supports (Bakker and Trip, 2013). Many major cities in Europe have implemented electric vehicles sharing programs, such as Paris, …show more content…
Shared cars usually occupy dedicated parking spot, users using an electronic key to access the car they booked, and the car must be returned to that specific sopt once the booking is complete. The PEVSP is based on an on-demand, no reservation system. Users can check out a PEVSP vehicle while they get in the station, without preparing and waiting. Instant access to a shared vehicle provides great convenience to user, just like using their private vehicles. This is a critical characteristic to make people leave their private vehicles and accept this new public transport. However, the program management must have the knowledge of the city’s travel condition to satisfy user demand and maximize vehicle use in every
1.1 Electric Vehicle
The second initiative of this scenario is to establish a Public Electric Vehicle Sharing Program (PEVSP). BBRT aims to change San Francisco’s travel pattern from driving to walking, bicycling and transit. However, there are still about 350,000 private vehicles in the city. Even they are not using as usual; they are a huge potential emission source. PEVSP is a way to replace these existing internal combustion vehicles to reduce GHG emissions and congestion while retaining people’s need for special mobility.
The concerns about energy independence and climate change issues are growing rapidly all over the world. Energy independence is one of the biggest political issues in the USA. About two-thirds of the nation’s oil consumption are imported, and essentially, almost all the fuel use for transportation purposes (Guille & Gross, 2009). This strong energy dependence of foreign sources and the rising environmental and social awareness motivate many new transportation technologies. All those technologies aim to produce vehicles with more fuel-efficient or using alternative energy to reduce the need for oil. Electric vehicle is one of the most attractive technologies that can directly address these issues. Several studies have shown that electric vehicles can reduce local air pollution and traffic noise (Brady and O’Mahony, 2011; Hawkins et al., 2013), and may cut back GHG emissions from transportation sector (Brouwer et al., 2013). It is no doubt that San Francisco should consider electric vehicles as a serious alternative to conventional internal combustion vehicles. Electric vehicles have no local greenhouse gas emission, no need for oil, and very quiet. However, they are currently cannot compete with internal combustion vehicles because of the high cost and the lack of infrastructure support (Goeke & Schneider, 2015). Therefore, this scenario needs governments and private companies to provide more incentives and infrastructures to further boost this electrification trend. 1.2 Integration of Electric Vehicle and Car-sharing A survey on congestion, environmental and accident costs of transport (Button, 1993) has shown that the increase of private vehicles raising these problems in urban traffic. Therefore, car-sharing has developed as a new transit trend in many European cities (Steininger & Zettl, 1996). The shift in trip structure and distance has highlighted the benefits of car-sharing in terms of social considerations, economical considerations and environmental considerations. These benefits include reducing parking demand, saving the costs from vehicle purchase and maintenance, and reducing environmental impacts (Efthymiou et al., 2013). Car-sharing is a rising transportation industry in which users access a fleet of shared vehicles for short-term use (Kent & Dowling, 2013). It can be classified into three types: neighborhood car-sharing, station car-sharing and multimodal car-sharing (Barth & Shaheen, 2002). A well-developed car-sharing system can encourage people to leave their private vehicles by providing convenient access to a vehicle only when needed while giving benefits from reducing cost of owning a private vehicle (Martin & Shaheen, 2011a). Car-sharing is a big concept that includes many business and management models (Shaheen & Cohen, 2012). It can be one-way, peer-to-peer, or integrate into an existing public transport system. Car-sharing organizations can be non-profit organizations, for-profit companies, or community cooperations (Hampshire and Gaites, 2011). Many city governments have realized the benefits of both electric vehicles and car-sharing, and are trying to integrate these two new industries in numerous ways by providing financial supports (Bakker and Trip, 2013). Many major cities in Europe have implemented electric vehicles sharing programs, such as Paris, …show more content…
Shared cars usually occupy dedicated parking spot, users using an electronic key to access the car they booked, and the car must be returned to that specific sopt once the booking is complete. The PEVSP is based on an on-demand, no reservation system. Users can check out a PEVSP vehicle while they get in the station, without preparing and waiting. Instant access to a shared vehicle provides great convenience to user, just like using their private vehicles. This is a critical characteristic to make people leave their private vehicles and accept this new public transport. However, the program management must have the knowledge of the city’s travel condition to satisfy user demand and maximize vehicle use in every