Abstract:CarLink II is a commuter-based carsharing pilot project administered by the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Davis (ITS-Davis) in conjunction with Caltrans, American Honda Motor Company, and Caltrain. Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways (PATH) researchers are conducting the evaluation. Launched in Summer 2001, CarLink II continues the investigation of commuter-based carsharing that was originally explored in the 1998 CarLink longitudinal survey and the 1999 CarLink I field test. Lessons learned during the CarLink I field test helped guide the project team's design of the CarLink II project, resulting in several differences and improvements.

The original CarLink I field test ran from January to November, 1999 and featured 54 individuals sharing 12 natural gas powered Honda Civics. The vehicles were based at the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station in Dublin/Pleasanton, the eastern terminus of the BART system. The shared cars were equipped with smart technologies including tracking, communication, and reservation systems to facilitate access and logistics. The model incorporated transit-based carsharing for traditional and reverse commute travel patterns, as well as a day-use fleet application, tested at a major employment center—the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The CarLink model includes three separate user groups (Homebased Users, Workbased Commuters, and Workbased Day Users), each of which used the vehicles differently and paid fees accordingly.

Building upon the knowledge and experience gained in CarLink I, the CarLink II program reflects several changes to the initial model. Chief among these differences were the decisions to transition the program to an ongoing service at the end of the pilot phase and to test it in a different location with a new transit provider and business partners. CarLink II launched in Palo Alto with Caltrain and several businesses located in the Stanford Research Park in Summer 2001.