THE DEVELOPMENT OF CARPOOL IN CHINA AND ITS MARKET DEMOGRAPGHIC Take Shanghai as a Case Study

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1 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CARPOOL IN CHINA AND ITS MARKET DEMOGRAPGHIC Take Shanghai as a Case Study Wang Mingquan School of Transportation Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China mingquanchina@gmail.com Hui Ying School of Transportation Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China Huiying1975@hotmail.com *This Study was supported by the projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, with grant No ; *This Study was supported by the National High-Tech Research Plan of China, with grant No. 2007AA11Z245. Abstract Most of the large cities and metropolitan in the world have the congestion problems, especially at the peak hour. New York, San Francisco, London, Paris are all the examples, which cities have an obvious center. The commuters, who drive for work, face the wasting of money and time on the way home, and the local governments also need to solve the complaining from the citizens about the everyday congestion and improve the effective of the road system. Carpool is a popular way to improve the capability of road network, reducing the unnecessary vehicles rushing into the center city and the need of parking places. In China, carpool is still a new born child, and because of the accompanying social and legal problems, there are no actual based transportation policy called carpool, and also no permit of formal carpool organization or website. But carpool is still a great idea to save money and improve the trip comfort. This dissertation is an analysis of the informal carpool in Shanghai, using a survey on the internet. The survey got back 552 respondents, who have the experience of carpool. The final data can greatly reflect the development and its market demographic. Keywords-carpool; informal development; market demografic; stated preference survey; DEVELOPMWNT OF CARPOOL Carpool is that many people share a vehicle for the one trip, and it is a popular way for people in the United States, where 90% of the household owned a private car. Carpooling is the commuting mode of 18 to 20% of American workers (PB Study Team, 2002). Carpool is not all the good thing for the local government. The State of California spent $2.3 billion by 2000 for 925 high occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane-miles (1.9% of the system s total), with plans to double the HOV system by 2020 (DKS Associates. 2002). But analysis of the San Francisco Bay Area HOV lanes data in shows: (1) HOV actuation imposes a 20% capacity penalty: the maximum flow at 60 mph on an HOV-actuated lane is 1,600 vehicles/hour, compared with 2,000 vehicles/hour when it is not HOV-actuated; (2) The HOV restriction significantly increases demand on the other lanes causing a net increase in overall congestion delay; (3) HOV actuation does not significantly increase person throughput; and (4) Both shortterm (daily) and long-term (yearly) carpooling responses are insensitive to travel-time savings. (Jaimyoung Kwon and Pravin Varaiya 2005) -1-

2 MOTIVATION OF CARPOOL USERS The HOV lane construction planning is based on the marginal cost of the road congestion. If you want to save money and time for the trips, you should pay. Especially when the case happened in bay area, where the central city is connected the different areas with the bridges, that situation makes the carpool fee waived become possible. Although the capability of the HOV is not as good as the regular lane, it takes more people in this lane, more the transit only lane in China. The motivation of carpool in China is modified but stay in the marginal cost of the trips. People who want to reduce the cost of the everyday commuting can choose carpool with people familiar or unfamiliar, friends or not friends. The other trend for carpool in the developed country is the use of internet. According of the data of the survey in Shanghai, we find that it is still a problem for one to choose collaterals. In the California, people can find the trip information on the face-book, or the carpool website. On the website, the information supporter needs to show his name, license number, and his vehicle and trip information. It makes carpool more frequently and automation. In Beijing and Shanghai, we also can find some website has its function to send and receive carpool information, but it needs more legal control about the website. The research chooses Shanghai as an example, using an internet survey method, collecting about 552 data. Web-survey is an economical, effective and suitable method to do survey for carsharing, and we are expected that the potential users of carsharing will be highly educated, young people, which are also the ones who can use internet frequently. According to the 552 data, we find that the average age of the respondents is Most of the respondents are young, 325 respondents of the total 552 are under 25, years old respondents accounts for 28.7%, the portion of and over 51 are 9.2% and 2.0%. The respondents are highly educated, and 56.0% of them have the scholar degree, 31.2% of them are educated as a specialist before, and other 10.8% respondents have graduate or professional educate as well. The income also can reflect most of the respondents can not afford the cost of driving for commuting everyday, 47.2% of them said their income are less than 2,500 yuan/month, 29.9% of them have yuan/month, the portion of yuan/month and above are 13.9% and 4.0%. The home of the respondents are located in three parts, about 1/3 are inside of the inner circle freeway (CBD), 1/3 are out of the inner circle freeway but inside of long circle freeway (urban), and 1/3 are outside of the long circle freeway (suburban). Acceptance of carpool cost In China, carpool with strangers need to pay for every trip, the cost includes the round-trip gasoline and parking fee. Although carpool can reduce the commuting fee, respondents in China think it is not a cheaper way than transit. Among all the respondents, 24.5% of them said they think carpool cost is still too high for them. Since half of the respondents can accept the cost of the present cost of carpool, only 18.4% of the people think carpool is cheap. In San Francisco bay area, it is not the same situation. The bridge passing fee for round trip is $4, and if you have 3 more people in your car, you can use the HOV lane, and waive the fee. So if you drive to the central city, you can take two more to waive the $4, and if you want to take -2-

3 carpool driven by others, the cost is 0. So everyone in the United States can find his cost motivation. When we asked the affordable cost of carpool in Shanghai, only 4% can afford the price of more than 30 yuan, which means that the driver can only receive less than 90 yuan for his daily use, but as a regular use of private car, the cost of daily use is about 100 yuan, which means carpool is not a profitable business in Shanghai. For more information, check the figure yuan 14% More than 30 yuan 4% 10 yuan 19% 20 yuan 36% 15 yuan 27% Figure1 Affordable carpool cost of citizens in Shanghai (Take carpool for example, the vehicle used is Santana 2000, and 4 people use it together, less than 20km and the parking fee is 10 yuan/day, what is the affordable cost of your daily trip?) Typical carpool trip distance The normal trip distance for residents in Shanghai is about 16.3 km. About 60 of the total resident trips in Shanghai are made by Walk and Bicycle, and the average trip time is 17 minutes and 24 minutes (Shanghai Residents Transport Survey Report 2004). So we asked the respondents about the typical trip distance when they choose carpool, the result shows in Figure 2. Above 25 km 33% km 33% km 18% Less than 10 km 16% Figure2 Typical carpool trip distance of citizens in Shanghai The average road speed in center of Shanghai is 30 km/h. 33% of the respondents choose above 25km, which means the trip time is about 1 hour, and most of them choose the options less than 25km. It shows that when the city grows up, the trip time for commuting stays in less 1 hour, and -3-

4 one can choose carpool to improve the speed of transport, with the effect of lowering trip cost, balancing the lower price of real estate in suburban. Typical Carpool trip purpose Most of the residents use carpool for the price-sensitive trips, like commuting and tourist, which includes 229 choices and 237 choices among 552 respondents. The other bigger portion are leisure and study, which includes 180 choices and 125 choices, it means that the work/study destination or the trips for fun are the most popular way to apply carpool. It is possible for carpoolers to enter the vehicles which may be not their own, as an additional vehicle or additional mobility for the commuting or leisure trips, it is cheaper and flexible. The typical carpool trip purpose of citizens in Shanghai is showed in Figure 3. Study 125 Commuting 229 Business 93 Tourist 237 Leisure 180 Recreation 98 Shopping 89 Pick-up child 60 Figure3 Typical carpool trip purpose of citizens in Shanghai DEVELOPMENT PROBLEMS OF CARPOOL Although carpool in China has won the places in some big cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai, it is not a legal policy for the government to support carpool in China. A lot of websites help the informal carpoolers to connect each other. But the security, waiting time, and the finding a carpooler are the three biggest problems for the users in Shanghai. Hard to find a carpool companion For the 552 respondents who said they have the carpool experience, it is a big problem to find a companion with them to share carpool fee. The levels of finding a carpool companion for the residents in Shanghai are showed as Figure 4. Only 18 respondents choose the option easy among the totally answers. It means that the feeling of uncertain about the strangers is the burden for people in Shanghai to choose carpool. It is same as well in the US (Patricia A. Adler and Peter Adler, 1984). The commuters, who choose carpool, are tending to connect with the same people. As the survey shows, some respondents said they would like to take trips with their long-time friends or the companions together for many times. -4-

5 Suitable, 198 Difficult, Very Difficult, Easy, 18 0 Very Difficult Suitable Difficult Easy Figure4 Finding a carpool companion for the citizens in Shanghai Since the security and insurance for the driving, people are also worried about the driver skill of the drivers. Most of the carpoolers have driver license, and would like a round driver rule, which means everyone in the team take responsible of the trip. Because of the uncertain about the companions together in the trips, people are tending to connect with the one through familiar way, like friends. Since 43% of the respondents choose co-workers to introduce their companion, and 32% of the respondents choose their friends to introduce companions. Hard to find a same trip time It is easier for people in San Francisco to choose carpool, because of its HOV charge system. The carpool driver needs to pay once when they enter the center of the city, and there is no charge responsibility for return. So most of the carpool drivers take people to the center, and the others return by themselves, taking BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) or the bus back. It means that one only need to go together with the beginning time. In China, it is the different motivation for people to choose carpool. It is possible for the companion asking a return together for the driver. Since only 35 respondents think it is changeable for them to use carpool. It seems that they choose the neighbor or the family members as the companion to use carpool. Most of them think it is difficult to coordinate the trip time, especially the return time. 123 respondents choose the cannot control the time as an option, and 147 respondents think it is possible to change time and 199 respondents can coordinate the trip time but not easy. It is show Change less, Cannot control the time, 123 Possible to change time, Changeable, 38 0 Cannot control the time Possible to change time Change less Changeable Figure5 Trip time coordination for the carpoolers in Shanghai -5-

6 Security and accident worry Traffic congestion and accidents in China are very serious problems for the residents. It seems metro and bus are more security. People who take trips using carpool are mode tending to worry about security and accident. As we mentioned before, carpool is an informal trip mode in China, and why they cannot be written in the formal policy report is mostly induced to the security problems. 300 Prior agreement, Unclear responsibilities, Reassurance, 26 0 Prior agreement Reassurance Unclear responsibilities Figure6 Trip security responsibility for the carpoolers in Shanghai Only 26 respondents are satisfied with the security of carpool. 207 respondents think the responsibility is unclear when they use carpool. The biggest problem is hard to show a good security responsibility for the companions. The insurance is almost covering the driver, and the driver should take the responsible to the carpoolers. DEVELOPING TREND OF CARPOOL Improve the responsibility legal system The carpool is still on its way to struggle a formal position of the transportation system in China, although many informal ones have created some organization to help people connect the companions using carpool together. Since the security problems are the biggest burden for people to join carpool in China, it is responsibility for the government to improve the responsibility legal system. Carpool is only the part of life, and it has entered into the family car usage. It is a useful way to create the social credit system as the United States. Bank account and real estate can be the factors to certify the credit of residents (Strahilevitz, Lior Jacob 75). Encourage carpool in the neigberhold The beginning point of carpool is usually home, and commuting purpose may be the biggest potential usage of carpool. It is hard for the people to find a companion of carpool, so improving the website of the community forum seems a urgent and important thing to do next. Carpool can be good way to have social connection between neighbors. People who live together are more like to have the same income, same education level and same destination of trips. Trip time and gathering places are more near and the worry about the strangers can be released less (Sungyop Kim, Gudmundur F. Ulfarsson). -6-

7 Using more carpool taxi Taxi in China is very popular alternative to the vehicle ownership, but the taxi driver also thinks it is hard to drive in the rush hour, and the vacant vehicle also creates pollution when they cannot stop. But the best of taxi is it covers the insurance of the passengers. Since responsibility and insurance cannot cover every carpooler, it is better to encourage people to use taxi as a carpool vehicle. It seems that improving the reservation system of the taxi company is an urgent for the whole people. If the carpool taxi can be applied, there will be a good alternate for the transit priority and vehicle use, especially for the people living in the suburban and less transit network can cover. Create automatic carpool system When the internet highway has entered into almost every family in China, the electrical bank and reservation system will combined also. For most of the carpoolers, the trips are the commuting and leisure, but how to make more trips using carpool, it is important to create more intelligent automatic carpool reservation system to make the system more effective. Rider share websites in the United States are popular, and covering lots of the area, which can make people reserve a vehicle or send his trip information on time, although it reply on the healthy credit system first. CONCLUSION Although individual travel by automobile is the most convenient form of transportation, excessive usage of the automobile has created many problems. Pollution, energy consumption, traffic congestion, and facility maintenance costs are concerns of society. The benefits and motivation of joining carpool are obviously, more people using a vehicle can release the drive mileage of vehicle and reduce the pollution and congestion in the rush hour. It is important to know more about the characteristics of the users of carpool through deeper telephone or visit to the respondents. In addition to the regular survey questionnaire, we should know more about requirements for the service of the carpoolers, since carpool are more the social problems for the whole people living in the cities. The security and credit system of the carpool system are still not very strong to protect the carpoolers. We would better to learn more about the United States and other developed countries. -7-

8 REFERENCES (1) Jaimyoung Kwon and Pravin Varaiya 2005, Effectiveness of High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) Lanes in the San Francisco Bay Area, Department of Statistics California State University, East Bay Hayward, California, United States (2) DKS Associates High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) Lane Master Plan Update. Prepared for Metropolitan Transportation Commission, Caltrans District 4 and the California Highway Patrol Golden Gate Division, March (3) The PB Study Team. HOV Performance Program Evaluation Report. Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, (4) Hai Yanga, Hai-Jun Huang (1999), Carpooling and congestion pricing in a multilane highway with high-occupancy-vehicle lanes Department of Civil Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Volume 33, Issue 2, February 1999, Pages (5) Shanghai Comprehensive Transportation Planning Institue, Shanghai Residents Trip Survey Report 2004, Shanghai, China. (6) Patricia A. Adler and Peter Adler, The Carpool: A Socializing Adjunct to the Educational Experience, Sociology of Education, Vol. 57, No. 4, Ethnographic Studies of Education (Oct., 1984), pp (7) Strahilevitz, Lior Jacob 75 Ind. How Changes in Property Regimes Influence Social Norms: Commodifying California's Carpool Lanes; L.J (2000) (8) Sungyop Kim, Gudmundur F. Ulfarsson, Travel Mode Choice of the Elderly: Effects of Personal, Household, Neighborhood, and Trip Characteristics, Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board Issue Volume: Category:Planning and Administration, Pages: (9) James R. Evans, William K. Jackson and Gregory J. Westerbeck, Michael P. Thomas, Planning and analysis of a ridesharing evaluation study, Socio-Economic Planning Sciences,Volume 19, Issue 1, 1985, Pages