Car sharing began in Switzerland in 1987, followed by Germany in 1988, and subsequently by other European countries, the United Kingdom and United States. 20 years on there are car share schemes in 600 cities worldwide, enabling users to save money and live a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. But it hasn’t caught on everywhere. Why not?
How Car Sharing Works
There are two basic methods. In the first, members use a booking system to share a car which they all own together. It involves a larger group of people owning a smaller number of cars, so saving money. It works best for people who do not need a car every day, for example, people living in cities who can walk, cycle or use an efficient public transport system to get to work, but who like to have the use of a car for longer trips or particular purposes.
The second involves people who want to own a car but save money by sharing the running costs. They advertise where they are going and when through a website, so that people who don’t own cars can book a place in the car in exchange for a contribution to fuel and other costs. It works particularly well for people who live and work in the same area and can share a regular journey.
Environmentally Friendly
Many of the cars on our roads are under-occupied, and one study estimated that in the UK there are on average 10 million empty seats per day. Car sharing reduces the number of cars on the road by filling these empty seats, covering the same journeys for less fuel, reducing congestion and easing traffic flow. So in addition, the cars that are on the road can run more efficiently, without wasting time and fuel sitting in traffic jams.
Many people have adopted car sharing not only as a means of saving money, but also of doing their bit to reduce carbon emissions. Many Governments have actively supported car sharing as one tactic in their strategy for reducing carbon emissions, investing money in providing information, facilitating communication through websites, and providing parking specifically for the use of car sharers.
Making Car Sharing Work
Cultural attitudes can be a significant brake on the growth of car sharing, as can lack of institutional support. In Spain car sharing began in Barcelona, a densely populated city with an excellent and cheap internal public transport system. Yet despite this, and the recent success of ‘Bicing’, a scheme which allows members to pick-up and drop-off bicycles at numerous points around the city for a small annual membership fee, car sharing has not really taken off. The roads are still clogged with traffic, yet many of the car owners who pay upwards of 150 euros a month for a parking space use their cars only at weekends, keeping a moped or bicycle for short journeys around the city.
In 2002 the Association for the Promotion of Public Transport, (APTP) reported that 20% of the population were potential users, and that schemes were viable with significantly less than this. Politicians from areas around Barcelona were sent on a visit to Italy, where Berlusconi’s Government had invested 10 million euros with the aim of achieving 100,000 users in three years.
At that stage there were around 60,000 users in Germany and 45,000 users in Switzerland alone.Today there are a dozen Spanish websites dedicated to car sharing, but the most successful of them is Compartir SL, a company which claims 8,000 users, only 50% of them Spanish, compared with an estimated 348,000 users worldwide according to a recent study.
Mathias Kuphal, a Berliner who used car sharing extensively in Germany, set up his car sharing site for users in Britain, Germany, Spain and Latin America from his new home in Barcelona in 2006. “Like most big cities, Barcelona is ideal for car sharing. The cars here are under-used, and for most people it's not worth owning one. But there are times when access to a car is useful. Maybe with the economic crisis it will pick up, because people will realize they can save money by sharing their car” he said.
Ruth Arundell - Ruth is a British writer, teacher and campaigner who moved to Barcelona, Spain in 2006. She began writing as a child and during the 1980s ...
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