Han Wang’s research while affiliated with Ningbo University and other places

This study developed a method to determine the optimum supply of shared cars according to personal travel behaviors in the condition of minimum energy consumption. We applied the method in Southern Higher Education Zone (SHEZ) of Ningbo based on the survey data of personal travel behaviors in the region. Solutions in the case of minimum energy consumption encourage more shared-car trips, less private-car trips, and mass-transit trips. Total of 111 kJ of energy could be saved by each student from the actual case to minimum energy case. In SHEZ, 76 shared cars are recommended to provide an optimal supply of shared cars compared to 87 shared cars in reality. According to the findings, two policy implications are put forward from the aspects of supply and demand. First, to make an efficient supply, companies should focus on the distribution of shared cars according to the temporal and spatial distribution of usage, rather than only number of vehicles. Meanwhile, it is important to increase the usage of shared cars through policies, such as campaigns that raise residents’ awareness of car sharing as a green, flexible, and all-distance travel option for both workdays and holidays, and countermeasures that promote the usage of shared cars by key groups such as non-car owners. This study not only provides a method to estimate the optimum supply from viewpoint of minimum energy consumption, but also provide policy implications to guide the behaviors of both companies and users to improve the efficient usage of shared cars in Ningbo real case.

To promote the efficient usage of sharing transport from aspect of demand and supply, this study investigated the users’ travel behaviours and driving determinants of demand in the case of Ningbo. Based on the data of 576 valid samples from a survey in the south and north high education zone of Ningbo in 2018 and 2019, less than 20% of the investigated subjects have used sharing transport. Bicycle sharing is the most popular sharing transport mode, with an average usage rate of 4.9%. The usage of electric bike sharing and car sharing is as low as 2.35% and 2.95%, respectively. College students have the highest usage rate of sharing bicycle and electric bike, but least usage of sharing car compared to other occupations. Socioeconomic factors of individuals and service of sharing car have been investigated to identify the driving determinants. Family size, gender, and household income are very influential to the usage of sharing transport. Meanwhile, vehicle density and cost of service also influence the usage of sharing car significantly. Based on the findings, this study suggests three policy implications. First, socioeconomic factors of individuals should be considered to the demand forecast of sharing transport. Second, density of vehicles should be determined by supply negotiation among companies. Third, introduction of different kinds of credit scores into deposit system is recommended to improve the supply service.