Assessing Impact of Carsharing on Household Car Ownership in Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Carsharing is a service in which members of an organization have access to vehicles for predetermined periods of time (usually with short duration). One of the main impacts of this service in a city is said to be the reduction of car ownership. However, most studies used surveys of carsharing members to evaluate this effect, and these surveys may contain a bias because of the members’ interpretation of reality. This study proposes a first assessment of the reduction of car ownership in an area served by station-based carsharing service; the study used historical empirical data describing the population (Canadian census), typical travel behaviors, and car ownership (origin–destination surveys). Multiple regression models are used to study the relation between household and individual car ownership and exposure to carsharing, while controlling for other variables known to also influence ownership. Although more complex model formulations need to be tested to enhance the analysis, the results obtained in this analysis using linear regression models indicate that the number of shared vehicles in a 500-m radius is negatively correlated with car ownership.