The dominance of road transport, both on passenger and freight movements, has reached alarming levels for society due to their negative environmental impacts as well as societal and economic costs. To reverse this trend, many approaches have been applied, but without significant effects on mobility patterns and on the sustainability of the transport system. Fairly promising results have recently been reported in Europe with car-sharing. This research confirms, as hypothesized by prior research, that car sharing contributes to a more efficient and rational mobility (with lower number of vehicles per capita among members, lower demand for parking space, lower fixed costs and a complement to public transport). Additionally to the lower consumption of physical and economic resources, car sharing can also contribute to the reduction of energy and environmental impacts (added to the direct ones from the changes on vehicle ownership and usage patterns). A case study was carried out in Lisbon, Portugal, to estimate car sharing impacts and the effects of a possible technology change. The results demonstrate that those benefits can represent reductions of 35 or 47% in terms of energy consumption and 35 and 65% for CO2 emissions, if a shift to Hybrid vehicles (Sc.1) or to Electric vehicles (Sc.2) is promoted, respectively. The impacts of reducing vehicle ownership, in a 1 to 6 ratio, due to the implementation of car-sharing were also estimated. Additionally, a simplified fleet based NPV analysis was performed and the break-even point for which the system would become economically feasible was estimated. The most relevant variables influencing the economic feasibility of the car sharing the cost related variables, reducing the break-even timeframe from 36 to 57%

The introduction of alternative vehicle technologies to respond to the transportation sector pressure regarding fossil fuel dependency poses questions regarding their impacts on travel and driving behavior but also on the environment. The results presented in this paper are part of a long-term study developed to evaluate user's satisfaction and adaptation to electric vehicle (EV), in terms of driving behavior, mobility, comfort, charging routines, interaction with the charging infrastructure. User's energy consumption and CO2 emissions are also estimated. The data presented concerns information collected with interviews done to the eleven EV drivers and with on-board diaries, including km travelled, kWh charged, number of trips per day. The information was gathered over a period of 5 months, and comprises a total of 1772 trips, 18524km travelled, a total electricity consumption of 3252 kWh related to approximately 220 charges. Results indicate that the adoption of the EV impacted everyday routines on 36% of the participants and 73% observed changes on their driving style. In comparison to conventional internal combustion engine vehicles running on gasoline or diesel, EV reveals considerable reductions in both energy consumption and CO2 emissions in a Well-to-Wheel life cycle approach, with 1.30MJ/km and 63g/km, respectively

The transportation sector is one of the main contributors to enhance quality of life, by providing accessibility to people, places and goods. On the other hand, it also contributes to the degradation of the environment, presenting high levels of energy consumption and pollutants emissions. Solutions to overcome this increasing trend have focused on the development of alternative vehicle technologies and fuels, innovative transport systems, and information and communication technologies. Users’ behavior plays an essential role regarding the impacts of these solutions on reducing energy consumption and emissions. Over the years, rising attention has been given to behavior, both for light-duty and heavy-duty drivers, in particular to the effects of education, training, and feedback regarding driving performance on vehicle purchase, mobility patterns, and driving behavior.This paper aims at assessing the impacts of on-board devices that provide real-time feedback and eco driving training on bus drivers’ behavior. Rodoviária de Lisboa S.A., a Portuguese bus passenger-transport company, uses since 2008 a data logger and a managing software platform, GISFROT, developed by the company, to collect real-time operation data and to identify undesirable driving behaviors. These devices indicate to the driver undesirable driving behavior events through a sound signal. Drivers also participate in annual in class training sessions on eco-driving techniques. The device is currently installed in 100 buses and approximately 600 drivers use these vehicles under regular daily operation, while driving in the Lisbon metropolitan area.An analysis of data collected from 2010 to 2013 was performed to characterize driving behavior of the sample of drivers. Two monitoring periods, a first one with sound feedback followed by a period without sound feedback, were considered. A comparison between periods was performed regarding the percentage of times drivers were in undesirable driving events such as hard brakes and hard accelerations, among others. This analysis also considered drivers characteristics (age and time working at company) and vehicle characteristics (bus age and type). The comparison between monitoring periods indicates that without sound feedback, inexperienced drivers and senior drivers tend to increase percentage of time in undesirable events, particularly when driving mini buses and articulated buses. These increases are mainly observable in extreme brakes and accelerations and hard stops, with rises between 8% and 291%