The concept of carsharing involves sharing a small number of reserved cars to be used individually by a larger number of people as required. This study examines the operating parameters of one-way carsharing systems in order to determine the appropria...
The concept of carsharing involves sharing a small number of reserved cars to be used individually by a larger number of people as required. This study examines the operating parameters of one-way carsharing systems in order to determine the appropriate operating conditions that minimizes the lost sales rate. Five operating parameters are tested in this study: the number of stations, the average number of vehicles per station, the rate of one-way trip, the average number of staffs per station, and the relocation policy. The performance of round-trip carsharing systems is also compared to that of one-way carsharing systems. A simulation model is developed and simulations are performed to determine the appropriate combination of operating parameter and levels. The simulation results show that the average number of vehicles per station is the most critical parameter. Other key findings obtained from this research are as follows. First, applying the appropriate relocation policy to one-way carsharing systems can allow more customers to rent vehicles than the traditional round-trip carsharing systems. Second, the appropriate relocation policy should be selected based on the average number of vehicles per station in order to minimize the lost sales rate. Third, the number of stations does not affect the lost sales rate. This study findings will provide tools to understand impact of the carsharing system parameters on the efficiency of the carsharing operations.