Q: What is car sharing? A: It's the shared use of a pool of vehicles and related costs by members of a car-sharing organization. Instead of owning a second car (or, perhaps, a single car), a household borrows one from the pool as needed. It's sort of an organized, short-term car rental. Often, participants pay a fixed charge to belong to the organization, and then a small fee each time they use one of its vehicles. Q: Who typically runs car-sharing programs? A: Some car-sharing organizations, or CSOs, are founded by private citizens, others are for-profit businesses, and still others are government-run projects. CarLink is a university-based research project with partners in government and private industry. Q: What are the benefits of car sharing? A: It can save money and reduce pollution. Privately owned cars sit unused in parking lots and garages an average of 23 hours per day. When in use, they usually carry only one person. This costs the owner, who pays for the car's purchase, insurance and maintenance; the community, which pays for highways and traffic management; business, which must provide adequate parking for customers and employees; and the environment, which suffers from the resulting air and water pollution. Q: Where else has car sharing been done? A: The first car-sharing organization was founded in Europe in 1948. Now there are more than 200 growing organizations with more than 100,000 participants. In North America, the first projects began in 1983. There are four car-sharing organizations in the United States (CarLink will be the first smart car-sharing demonstration) and five in Canada, with about 1,000 members. Q: How will CarLink compare with other programs in the United States? A: With its initial 60 members and 12 vehicles, CarLink will be the largest car-sharing organization in the United States. It will also be the most technically advanced, with ATM-style "smart" cards, a card-reading key box, sophisticated software programs for reservations and billing, and an on-board vehicle tracking system. Q: What are the goals of the CarLink project? A: There are several, including: -- To measure the public's initial interest in such a project. -- To test the operation of a program with three driver bases, or "ports," like the ones in this study: user homes, the Dublin/Pleasanton BART station and several hubs at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. -- To assess the efficiency of the technology used for reservations, vehicle management and billing. -- To evaluate driver satisfaction with vehicles fueled by compressed natural gas. -- To measure user attitudes toward the CarLink concept and changes in travel behavior. -- To measure user satisfaction with the program operations. Q: What does it cost to participate? A: The cost depends on how the car is used. User Use Cost Homeside Drives CarLink to and from Dublin/Pleasanton $200 commuter BART station and on household per month trips on nights and weekends Workside Takes BART to Dublin/Pleasanton $60 commuter station and drives CarLink to and from work per month at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Day user Drives CarLink on work or personal trips from $1.50 Lawrence Laboratory and back to lab per hour and 10 cents per mile Q: What type of vehicles are available? A: CarLink will have 12 new four-door, ultra-low-emission Honda Civics powered by compressed natural gas. Ten cars will be available at all times, and two will be kept in reserve at the BART station. The Honda Civics have a range of about 200 miles. Q: Who fills the gas tanks? Performs maintenance and repairs? A: Workside commuters and day users will refuel the cars at the Livermore lab. Dublin-Pleasanton Honda will keep the cars running.