UC Davis Researchers Study Car-Sharing Plan

Researchers at UC Davis have taken on the challenge of coaxing drivers out of their personal cars and into a new fleet of shared sedans in the largest such experiment in the nation.

Car-pooling with groups of passengers to and from work or school is well known in the United States. But car sharing--in which drivers make reservations to use the same vehicles at different times of the day or week--is relatively unknown here. It is quite popular in Europe.

Under the so-called CarLink program publicly unveiled Tuesday, more than 60 participants from East Bay suburbs are expected to share 12 new four-door sedans for the next year. Officials in the $1-million program, funded by government agencies and private firms, predicted that an average of three people a day will use each CarLink vehicle.

Linked with increased use of mass transit, that should reduce pollution and traffic congestion as people break away from using only private cars, said Susan Shaheen, a doctoral candidate at UC Davis’ Institute of Transportation Studies and CarLink’s project manager.

As an added eco-friendly bonus, the CarLink vehicles are ultra-low-emission Honda Civics powered by compressed natural gas. Plus, each will contain a computer that tracks usage patterns for further study.

The cars will be based at drivers’ homes, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and at the Dublin / Pleasanton BART train station, which is about 30 miles southeast of downtown San Francisco. Key boxes at the public stations allow access to drivers who are identified by an ATM-like identity card. Once in the car, drivers log onto a computer and record the odometer reading and the purpose of the trip.

Fees for participating vary, with $200 a month the most expensive plan, depending upon how often the driver wants to use the car.

So what’s in it for the driver? No insurance, maintenance or fuel costs.

Roy Florey has been using CarLink to drive from his home in Livermore to the Dublin / Pleasanton BART station for the last two weeks. “It seems like a lot of money at first, but when you work it out with the cost of maintenance and gas for your own car, it’s worth it,” he said of the program.

There are more than 200 car-sharing organizations throughout Europe serving 100,000 members, but only four exist in the United States, officials said.

Commuters who take the shared vehicles home have agreed to let the tracking systems also be installed in their personal cars so Shaheen can compare usage records.

For $200 per month, such a “home side” commuter can drive CarLink to the Dublin / Pleasanton BART station, and then take the car home at night and on weekends. For $60 a month, drivers can take a car from the BART station to their workplace and back. Starting in a few weeks, a day use rate will be $1.50 per hour and 10 cents per mile.

Funding for the $1-million experiment came from the state Department of Transportation, the Bay Area Rapid Transit District, American Honda Motor Co. and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.