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Promoting car sharing / car clubs

FACT SHEET NO.: Cat-No.6 / Subcat-No.6.1

General Information

Title

FACT SHEET NO.: Cat-No.6 / Subcat-No.6.1

Category

6. Transport planning

Subcategory

6.1 Mobility strategies and plans

Transport policy measure (TPM)

Promoting car sharing / car clubs

Description of TPM

Promoting the instalment and extension of car sharing / car club organisation in European cities. Support of national / regional governments (financially and legally) to extend car sharing.
Car sharing is car rental for short periods of time, charging by time and distance combined. Other than rental cars, the cars can be rented for short time periods (per hour).
On the one hand, car sharing can be a substitute for a privately owned car, on the other hand it offers mobility possibilities for people and who don't want to or can't afford to own a car. Assumption here: Substitution of privately owned car.
Car sharing also offers the opportunity to avoid purchasing a company car for (small) businesses.

Implementation examples

- Mobility services for urban sustainability (MOSES) [1] [10]
- Momo Car-Sharing project (more options for energy efficient mobility through Car-Sharing) [2]
- CIVITAS - CARAVEL (Promotion car sharing, among other measures, in Genoa) [11]
- Collaboration of car share companies and the city of Düsseldorf [14]

Objectives of TPM

- Reduce dependence on private cars without restricting mobility [1]
- More rational use of the car and, altogether, reduction of car use in cities.

Choice of transport mode / Multimodality

Overall a modal shift away from road occurs due to a reduced motorization rate. But there is a difference in participants with and without car before: On average a modal shift from road to public transport and slow modes occurs for former car owners, while a slight increase in car usage occurs for car sharing participants without a car before. [6]

Origin and/or destination of trip

No change

Trip frequency

Reduction of car trips. (Reduced car ownership and thus modal shift to public transport and slow modes.) [6]

Choice of route

No change

Timing (day, hour)

No change

Occupancy rate / Loading factor

Increase in the hours per day a vehicle is used (a privately owned car is used on average less then an hour per day). A shared car replaces several privately owned cars, e.g. in Bremen the replacement number was 4-10 cars per shared car. [10]
A North-American study shows that the average number of vehicles per household participating in car sharing drops from 0.47 to 0.24. [13]

Energy efficiency / Energy usage

Adequate vehicle choice concerning e.g. capacity and performance when using a shared car. When buying a car, often the choice is influenced by peak demands and thus most of the time exceeds the needed capacity. [7] This results in reduced energy usage as smaller cars are usually used by particpants of carsharing.

Main source

[1] Mobility Services for Urban Sustainability - A European project for the City of Tomorrow: http://polymorphing.server72.de/upload/Projekte/moses/moses_brochure_web.pdf
[2] momo: momorandum, http://scp-knowledge.eu/sites/default/files/knowledge/attachments/momorandum.pdf
[3] Shaheen, Cohen (2007): Worldwide carsharing growth: an international comparison, Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, volume=1992
[4] Bonsall, Jopson, Pridmore, Ryan and Firmin (2002): Car Share and Car Clubs: potential impacts, Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds. Report prepared for DTLR and Motorists’ Forum
[5] Martin, Shaheen (2011): Greenhouse Gas Emission Impacts of Carsharing in North America, IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, volume: 12, issue:4
[6] Cohen, Shaheen and McKenzie (2008): Carsharing: A Guide for Local Planners; Institute of Transportation Studies
[7] Litman (1999): Evaluating Carsharing benefits; Victoria Transport Policy Institute
[8] Ciari, Balmer and Axhausen (2008): Concepts for a large scale car-sharing system: Modeling and evaluation with an agent-based approach, Working Paper, 517, IVT, ETH Zürich, Zürich
[9] Millard-Ball, Murray, ter Schure, Fox, and Burkhardt (2005); Car-Sharing: Where and How it Succeeds; Transit Cooperative Research Program Report #108
[10] City of Bremen Germany: Integration of Car-Sharing - / moses project, http://www.managenergy.net/download/nr126.pdf
[11] CIVITAS CARAVEL (2009): Final Project Report, Burgos, Genoa, Krakow, Stuttgart
[12] Haefeli, Matti, Schreyer, Maibach (2006): Evaluation Car-Sharing, Schlussbericht, Im Auftrag des Bundesamtes für Energie, Bern Regional / Local
[13] Martin, Shasheen, Lidicker (2010): Impact of Carsharing on Household Vehicle Holdings - Results from North American Shared-Use Vehicle Survey, Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2143, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington, D.C., 2010
[14] Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf: car2go startet in Düsseldorf mit 300 Fahrzeugen -Neues Carsharing-Modell ab Frühjahr 2012 in derLandeshauptstadt, 2. Dezember 2011, pld – Pressedienst der Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf

Traffic Impacts

Passengers 

         

Transport operators 

           

Unassigned 

         

Travel or transport time

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Risk of congestion

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Vehicle mileage

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Service and comfort

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Overall impacts on social groups

Implementation phase

Operation phase

Summary / comments concerning the main impacts

- Mode change to public transportation, walking and cycling for former car owners. Previously carless customers use car sharing mostly as a substitute for car rental, taxis and other car-centered modes, but a slight increase in vehicle-km travelled by car occur in this group. [6]
- There is also a positive effect on comfort and service as the car-sharer is not responsible for the maintenance of the car. [4] and the increasing level of comfort by a shift from public transport to car sharing. Nevertheless comfort is reduced as the car is not as easily and not as spontaneously available as a privately owned car.
- The travel time increases, if the car has to be picked up at a specific parking spot, often in a longer distance from home compared to privately owned vehicles. Hence the additional (walking) distance and overall transport time increase. Nevertheless, it is less likely, that shift occurs from public transport to carsharing, thus the total traveling time will decrease.
- A congestion reduction is not quantifiable [8], as the modal shift effects are relatively small.

Quantification of impacts

- Percent of vehicle kilometres reduced due to car sharing in Europe: 28 to 45% [3].
- Mainly the vehicle miles are reduced by people who owned a car before and participated in car sharing, e.g. the average reduction of vehicle miles travelled determined by several studies is 44% [6].

Economic Impacts

Passengers 

         

Transport operators 

           

Unassigned 

         

Transport costs

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Private income / commercial turn over

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Revenues in the transport sector

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Sectoral competitiveness

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Spatial competitiveness

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Housing expenditures

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Insurance costs

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Health service costs

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Public authorities & adm. burdens on businesses

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Public income (e.g.: taxes, charges)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Third countries and international relations

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Overall impacts on social groups

Implementation phase

Operation phase

- Missing legislation (parking space) lead to system distortion (example Germany)

Summary / comments concerning the main impacts

- A private car has smaller variable costs, but high fixed costs. In several cities parking costs for a privately owned car have to be added.
- User of car sharing systems are not faced with unexpected costs (repair bills). [7]
- The decrease in transport costs does not hold in general, but for car users who have a low vehicle mileage or use their car only sporadically. The age of the alternatively owned private car is also an important factor when comparing the costs. [4]
- Slight decrease in cost saving for housing development and thus housing expenditures, as less parking spaces are necessary. [8]
- System subsidies affect an increase of public expenditures. Dependent on operating model: private / public
- 3rd level impact: If car sharing is evolving rapidly and the number car sharing options will increase substantially, then this could negatively affect the competitiveness of public transport (assuming that people who are currently using public transport can change to car sharing).

Quantification of impacts

Switzerland: Cost for parking = 10% and thus a slight decrease in costs for housing development occurs (-0.02%). [8]

Social Impacts
Environmental Impacts

Passengers 

         

Transport operators 

           

Unassigned 

         

Air pollutants

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Noise emissions

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Visual quality of the landscape

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Land use

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Climate

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Renewable or non-renewable resources

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Overall impacts on social groups

Implementation phase

Operation phase

Summary / comments concerning the main impacts

- The modal shift from road (own cars) to slow modes, public transportation and car sharing leads to a decrease of air pollutants and noise. On the other hand there can be a shift from public transport to road (car sharing) and thus the air pollutants will increase.
- The structure of the car-sharing fleet consists of newer cars compared to the average age of private cars and emit thus less CO2. [12] [EE] Additionally, the fleet consists on average on smaller cars than the privately owned vehicles. [7] In some cities the car sharing fleet is complemented by e-vehicles. [3]
- Car sharing leads to a reduction of car ownership (motorization rate), either that the current car is sold, 2nd car is substituted or no new car is bought. [EE] This reduction of cars in a city means that less parking spaces are needed.

Quantification of impacts

- North America GHG emission: Mean observed impact (changes in emissions that physically occur): -0.58 t GHG/year per household.Mean full impact (emissions that were avoided due to car sharing): -0.84 t GHG/year per household. [5]
- The average CO2 emissions in 2005 from the "mobility" car sharing fleet in Switzerland has been 18 % lower than those of new cars on the road and 25 % lower than the average emissions of all private cars in Switzerland. [12]
- The share of the "mobility" car-sharing fleet on the whole Swiss car fleet is 0.05%. This results in a reduced parking demand of -0.20% [8]

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