(Corresponding author)

Carsharing involves the communal ownership and use of a fleet of vehicles, typically on an hourly basis (Millard-Ball et al. 2005). Austin CarShare (ACS) was launched in the fall of 2006, making Austin the first city in Texas with carsharing services. While many studies have discussed the positive impacts of carsharing, few have examined widespread public opinion of carsharing. This study undertook the challenge of investigating traveler preferences during ACS’s service launch, in order to anticipate latent demand for such services. The survey provides rich information on public opinion of different aspects of the ACS program, as well as the expected demand on the service and possible changes in travel patterns. Supplementing the survey results with spatial data, membership models of two pricing plans reveal that households with higher vehicle ownership and income-to-adults ratios are less likely to join the program, while level of education exhibits a convex relationship with the probability of joining the Freedom Plan, ceteris paribus. Although potential carsharing users share similar characteristics, the two plans serve slightly different customer sets and have the potential to supplement one another. 1