Evaluating an innovative sub-leasing type of the round-trip carsharing

This paper introduces a sub-leasing type of round-trip carsharing to enhance its efficiency for both customers and companies. This innovative type of carsharing provides new temporary stations and allows customers to access both vehicles in the company's stations and vehicles already reserved but parked and unused in other locations. The evaluation is performed using simulation with available demand datasets. Results show that the proposed model significantly increases the acceptance rate of the reservations, enhances the availability and accessibility of the company's vehicles, and reduces the needed fleet size. Hence, it provides many benefits for both companies and customers. Sensitivity analyses quantify the expected improvement by assuming a higher acceptable walking distance for customers and by increasing the flexibility of the customers’ reservation time.