The impact of free-floating carsharing on car ownership: Early-stage findings from London

Abstract

Free-floating carsharing is a rapidly growing urban mobility service. It has emerged at commercial scale more recently than traditional 'round-trip' carsharing, and at present its growth trajectory is steeper. The evidence base regarding its impacts on sustainable transport indicators is, however, less well-developed. This issue is topical for a variety of reasons, including the importance of public policy to the success of this form of carsharing. The research objective of this study is to establish the early-stage impact of free-floating carsharing on private car ownership. We report findings from a point in time three months following the initiation of a free-floating carsharing service in London (UK). We investigate characteristics of FFCS users that are associated with having one's car ownership impacted, as well as the distinction between deterrence of increased car ownership and sale/disposal of a previously owned private car. We find that 37% (n=347; 95% confidence interval: ±5%) of users indicate that free-floating carsharing has impacted their ownership of private cars. Of this 37%, a large majority (83%) indicated that the mechanism of impact was that they decided not to buy a car that they otherwise would have purchased. 11% reported that they had disposed of a car in the past three months, and 6% stated that they will sell a private car within the next three months. The average income and education level of users are both higher than for the general population. Within the population of service-users, multivariate analysis demonstrates that, net of confounding effects, heavier (more-frequent) service-users are more likely to indicate impacts on car ownership, and that being highly-educated and higher-income than other users were both (independently) associated with maintaining one's car ownership level. Additional findings are presented that relate car ownership impacts to further demographic characteristics as well as behavioural indicators. Our findings should be interpreted to pertain to the 'early adopter' cohort of FFCS users, and as free-floating carsharing services mature and grow further research will be needed to ascertain how user characteristics, behaviour and impacts are evolving.

Empirical Modeling Analysis of Potential Commute Demand for Carsharing in Shanghai, China

“…The age term and age squared term indicate that the probability of commuters choosing carsharing increases with age and peaks at 26 years old. This is consistent with the results obtained from the studies in London [50], Greece [30], and Shanghai [32,33], that younger people are more willing to accept carsharing. Young people at this age have just started to work and probably cannot afford to buy cars, but they have a high demand for commute mobility.…”

Are low-carbon innovations appealing? A typology of functional, symbolic, private and public attributes

“…Low carbon innovations offer consumers an alternative to high carbon incumbent technologies or high carbon practices. In the mobility sector they challenge the incumbent model of car ownership and use [29][30][31]. They include innovations that offer alternative forms of, and alternatives to, auto-mobility.…”

“I like it, but I don't use it”: Impact of carsharing business models on usage intentions in the sharing economy

“…The environmental effects of carsharing have received significant scholarly attention, and in general, carsharing and access‐based services are often perceived as “eco‐efficient services” because they make use of underutilized assets (Botsman & Rogers, ; Lamberton, ; Meijkamp, ). Further, a plethora of studies indicate that carsharing reduces car ownership (e.g., Baptista et al, ; Clewlow, ; Engel‐Yan & Passmore, ; Firnkorn & Müller, ; Firnkorn & Müller, ; Le Vine & Polak, ; Martin, Shaheen, & Lidicker, ; Nijland & van Meerkerk, ; Stasko, Buck, & Oliver Gao, ) as well as private vehicle kilometers traveled (Clark, Gifford, Anable, & Le Vine, ; Firnkorn & Müller, ; Kopp, Gerike, & Axhausen, ; Nijland & van Meerkerk, ; Sioui, Morency, & Trépanier, ; Steininger, Vogl, & Zettl, ). Rabbitt and Ghosh () estimate, in sum, that carsharing could lead to significant cost and CO 2 savings (similar to Baptista et al, ).…”