The Carsharing-Transit Card: Is It Good for Public Transportation?
The proliferation of new shared-ride transportation services provides a unique opportunity for transit agencies to reach new markets. Unfortunately, many transit agencies are wary of partnering with private companies. To address these concerns, this research analyzes the usage data from a unique joint carsharing\transit smartcard in Chicago. This work explores the general revenue and ridership impacts of this smartcard before examining the impact of a promotional incentive of a $50 transit credit. The research found that the joint smartcard steadily increased transit ridership and revenue. The research also found that the promotion attracted new cardholders who were more likely to reduce their public transportation use and spending than a non-incentivized group; however, the large numbers attracted by the promotion meant that on aggregate, a year later, the incentivized group still spent more than three times as much on transit as the non-incentivized control group. These findings suggest that strategic partnerships and financial incentives are successful ways to market transit. Furthermore, joint carsharing\transit smartcards represent a specific partnership with a high probability of success.
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Supplemental Notes:
- This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AP020 Emerging and Innovative Public Transport and Technologies.
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Corporate Authors:
500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC United States 20001 -
Authors:
- Newmark, Gregory L
- Schramm, Melissa C
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Conference:
- Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting
- Location: Washington DC, United States
- Date: 2015-1-11 to 2015-1-15
- Date: 2015
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: Digital/other
- Features: Figures; References;
- Pagination: 20p
- Monograph Title: TRB 94th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Incentives; Public private partnerships; Public transit; Revenues; Ridership; Smart cards; Vehicle sharing
- Geographic Terms: Chicago (Illinois)
- Subject Areas: Finance; Highways; Public Transportation; I10: Economics and Administration;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01556543
- Record Type: Publication
- Report/Paper Numbers: 15-6072
- Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
- Created Date: Mar 9 2015 7:53AM