Impact of Congestion Pricing Policies in Round-Trip and Free-Floating Carsharing Systems

Carsharing is a short-period car rental system where being member is the first step to have access to its services. In a previous study a membership choice model of the city of Berlin was estimated using the agent-based model MATSim and discrete choice theory. Results have shown two distinct member profiles: two-way members use the system for primarily pre-planned long trips while free-floating members usually employ the service as a substitute to private cars in pursuing daily activities. Starting from the developed membership model this study investigates how congestion pricing policies affect carsharing mode choice by implementing different price ranges and applying them in MATSim on the synthetic population of Berlin in order to assess the system behaviour during an ordinary day. Results show an increase of carsharing choice with different impact and a decrease of car mode usage. Free-floating service customers decreased their travel distance, as congestion pricing impacts their choices more than travel cost in a daily user’s plan, instead they do not change their willingness to access to the service. Two-way customers are not affected by congestion pricing as the service is used as a substitute of both public transport and private car.