Search results

The dominance of road transport, both on passenger and freight movements, has reached alarming levels in what concerns their negative environmental impacts as well as societal and economic costs. To reverse this trend, a technology-driven approach and a behavioral change attitude need to be pursued. Promising results have been reported in Europe in the reduction of vehicle ownership, due to the introduction of an alternative transport mode known as car sharing. This work evaluates the contribution of car sharing to sustainable transport, based both in a technological shift and a potential behavioral change.

The state of the art on car sharing and policies presents the effects of these systems and how they have been promoted. As those effects can vary according to the geographical area, the users profile, and service characteristics, a worldwide analysis on car sharing systems covering more than 400 cities was performed. Average service indicators were quantified and characterization variables were accounted to those cities’ urban areas. Considering those normalized values, the authors performed an analysis of the car sharing system in Lisbon (Portugal). An initial assessment was made to estimate its current energy and environmental impacts. This outcome was then compared with the environmental and economic effects of using alternative vehicle technologies in car sharing. The results obtained enable a discussion of the more important variables for the success of the system and, consequently, to choose what policy instruments can help car sharing to succeed.

The results of the existing car sharing schemes reveal the positive contribution of car sharing to fill a “mobility gap” in sustainable transport. It works as a complement to other sustainable transport options and it impacts positively both society and car-sharers in terms of mobility costs, environmental, and energy implications. These results are more significant if a technology shift to electric mobility is promoted. Within the case study in Lisbon, the adoption of electric mobility would allow decreases up to 47% and 65% in energy consumption and CO₂ emissions, respectively. Moreover, the present value economic analysis revealed that, these systems will only be economically viable after approximately 7 years. A sensitivity analysis to the economic model was performed showing that the variables having higher influence were cost-related variables (reducing the break-even timeframe from 36% to 57%), such as vehicle purchase cost, insurance, maintenance and tax costs, and fuel cost.

Car sharing systems generally present social benefits to society as it leads to the reduction of car ownership, with all the positive effects that has on a lower demand for parking space, less congestion, reduced local pollutants and emissions. If the technology used by car sharing vehicles shifts from conventional to another type of technology, the effects both for society and car sharers are even more appealing from a social point of view. In the particular case study approached in the chapter, given the small scale of the car sharing network and low usage patterns, the local results have a low social impact at the city scale. A larger promotion of the system either with a more aggressive marketing campaign targeting specific population niches (e.g., environmentally conscious people), larger vehicle and parking availability, or better integration with the city’s public transport system could foster the deployment of the system, similarly to other cities.

Overall, the results obtained from this research work quantify the contribution of car sharing to sustainable transport and highlights the positive effects of promoting a technological shift. These facts reinforce the need for public policies to support the integration of car sharing within the city’s solutions to promote a more sustainable mobility. The successful deployment of car sharing systems can be influenced by policies targeting features such as allocation of parking, the fees and complementarity with public transport, signage and markings, and marketing of social and environmental benefits.

Transport governance is dependent on, and works through, legally defined or socially accepted categories that are challenged by the technological and business disruptions that characterize smart mobility. This chapter explores the dynamic interactions between the categories of transport governance and new (disruptive) forms of mobility, using a framework that highlights the ways governance solutions are influenced by how problems are framed. The argument is made through two empirical cases – of car sharing and motorized (electric) personal mobility devices. Car sharing emerged quietly onto the transport landscape in Australia, and has been accommodated and facilitated by local government parking policies. In this case, the tools for governing smart mobility already existed, and became adaptable to new imperatives. Personal mobility devices (PMDs), battery-powered motorized devices designed to be used by an individual on footpaths or shared user paths, are neither common nor legal on many roads or footpaths. The process through which PMDs became regulated in the Australian state of Queensland is used to illustrate the ways in which ‘epistemic experimentation’ can challenge regulatory framings and foster the introduction of new forms of smart mobility. The chapter concludes that smart mobility both disrupts and confirms dominant framings of transport governance, especially in relation to automobility, and that further challenges will need to be met as autonomous vehicles become more widespread across transport infrastructure.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the process benefits and findings of a functional benchmarking exercise. It explores the issues surrounding the potential introduction of a direct employee car parking financial incentive or disincentive measure at an airport, drawing on best practice from specific non‐airport organisations.

A case study approach is taken in which three different organisations are considered from a functional benchmarking perspective.

There are direct findings in terms of how to develop employee parking strategies/policies.

This paper adds to the practical literature on functional benchmarking by presenting evidence from a benchmarking exercise of three case study organisations.

There are practical findings in terms of the potential benefits and limitations from a functional benchmarking exercise. There are also practical recommendations in terms of organisations seeking to develop and implement staff car parking strategies.

The paper provides an illustration of functional benchmarking in practice.

This paper aims to present the progress of the implementation of sustainability in business schools in line with the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) and its principles of responsible management education.

By analyzing the content of the Sharing of Information on Progress reports from PRME signatories, this study identified significant developments in the strategies business school use to implement sustainability. However, it seems that a framework that business schools can apply to accomplish that goal is still lacking. This paper proposes a framework that addresses four components of the integration process and stresses the important role of stakeholders. The authors discuss the results from 2021 in comparison to the results of a previous analysis of the first 100 signatories from 2010 and analyze the findings in relation to the developed framework.

This study shows that business schools have improved their sustainability engagement in many areas (e.g. education offerings and teaching methods, campus practices and engaging stakeholders). However, less attention has been paid to other aspects, such as reviewing and assessing, capability development or communication, which could slow the transformation process. The authors discuss further implications of the findings for enhancing the PRME signatories’ ability to implement the underrecognized aspects.

While the analysis focuses on the status and progress of the integration of PRME within business schools during the past decade, the framework may enable higher education institutions to analyze their potential to implement change and plan future transformation strategies.

This paper aims to highlight a multidimensional model of sustainability practices that are considered meaningful and practical for implementation by higher education institutions (HEIs).

The Concept System® Global MAX© software facilitated the bottom-up approach of this study, where 32 staff and students of a private HEI were prompted with the question, “What design features or facilities should the university building have for you to consider the building sustainable?” Their opinions were collected as statements via online brainstorming and the process was followed through with the sorting and rating of reduced statements. The software was also used to perform multi-dimensional scaling and cluster analysis to generate the findings of this study.

An eight-cluster solution was proposed based on the themes within respective clusters. Respondents rated the importance of sustainability resource usage and sustainability and technology highly. Whilst sustainable campus facilities appeal to students, education for sustainable development were more important to staff.

The community-based participatory research recommends activities that enhance the adoption of sustainable development in making universities a “living lab” for sustainability.

This chapter focuses on strategies to initiate a shift in mobility behaviour away from private cars towards a combination of more environmentally friendly transport modes including public transport, ride- and car sharing or even completely carbon-free modes like walking and cycling. The requirement for such a shift is that people must be able to actually choose between different travelling options and combine them within an intermodal mobility network. Here, shared mobility has a considerable potential to fill the gap between public and individual transport options.

This chapter summarises results from different studies on shared mobility from the providers’, the users’ and the political perspective. The user’s perspective is based on an empirical study comparing car sharers’, car drivers’ and public transport users’ attitudes and mobility patterns.

The empirical findings from the case study have shown that shuttle trips by car in general, and to the train station in particular, are an important field of action for improving the environmental impact of intermodal trips. The study has also shown that car sharing enables people to live without a private car by using different transport modes for different purposes. As the majority of car sharers report needing a car only one to three times a month, they have a very small carbon footprint compared to the average car owner.

Mobility patterns are determined by local transport options as well as by personal routines. Hence, current changes due to new shared mobility options seem to have a considerable direct impact on how people organise their daily lives on the one hand and an indirect impact on their living costs on the other hand, since private cars have an important share of private household costs.

From an environmental perspective, any incentives to encourage people to choose alternative forms of transport over their private cars would seem to be particularly effective. Thus, understanding the behaviour and needs of multi- and intermodal travellers is an important step towards sustainable mobility. Acknowledging that most travellers still need a car every now and then, car sharing is an essential addition to public transport systems, supporting both public transport use and carbon-free mobility like walking and cycling.