Car sharing


What is car-sharing?

Car-sharing is based on the simple idea of being able to use a car individually without having to own one but in a way that is just as convenient. It is an innovative local mobility service complementary to public transport.

Developments and trends

As flexibility has become the key concept for the 21st century, mobility has replaced transport – both individual and public. In order to provide seamless mobility to their customers, public transport companies are providing an increasingly broader mix of mobility services by building new alliances with various actors, including car-sharing operators.

Car-sharing implies a change of behaviour in car use, as the car is only used when really necessary. Each car-sharing vehicle replaces five to six private cars, which makes it possible to build green space instead of more car parks.

Looking at most car-sharing schemes across the globe, the following common features can be found:

- a long-term relationship between customer and operator;
- total availability of cars day and night, seven days a week ;
- specially designed stations throughout a city;
- very short usage periods (at least one hour);
- a ‘pay-as-you-drive’ tariff structure
- easy booking through several channels (internet, call centre, etc).

See the UITP CarSharing Platform

Read more

Key questions about car-sharing
European moses project (PDF format - 4Mb)
Bremen Paper (PDF format - 200k)
CarSharing Platform brochure   (PDF format - 1,4 Mb)
Combined mobility and car-sharing

Public Transport International magazine dedicated its issue 06/2002 to car-sharing.  All articles from past editions of PTI are available to members in our e-library, MOBI+. 

List of members  Working groups  Information for members

UITP decided to be a partner in the European moses project (PDF format - 4Mb), which came to an end in early 2005. In the frame of this project, UITP organised a workshop on ‘Public transport and car-sharing: together for the better’ (Bremen, December 2002) and published the Bremen Paper (PDF format - 200k) presenting guidelines for synergies between public transport and car-sharing.

A car-sharing Village was set up at the UITP World Congress and Exhibition in Madrid (May 2003).

As public transport and car-sharing are complimentary, UITP decided to invest in them even more by launching its CarSharing Platform in June 2005 (CarSharing Platform brochure - available in  - PDF format - 1,4 Mb ).

The UITP CarSharing Platform aims at bringing together all actors of the sector, ie car-sharing operators, public transport operators, organising authorities, the industry, and academic members. It should stimulate interaction, debate, and the exchange of good practices in order to promote and develop car- sharing worldwide.

CONTACT: Sandra Vingerhoets, sandra.vingerhoets@uitp.org

List of members

See the list of members

Working groups

• Standardising CarSharing
• Promoting CarSharing
• Improving Cooperation between Public Transport and CarSharing