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Car-Sharing: Where and How It Succeeds
Chapter 4. Impacts of Car-Sharing
4.1 Introduction
The chair of the UK government's advisory body, the Commission
for Integrated Transport, has called car-sharing a "mode without a
downside,"1 and car-sharing proponents have identified a number
of public benefits that can be produced by car-sharing. These range
from environmental benefits, such as reduced vehicle travel, to social
impacts such as increased mobility for low-income households.
Exhibit 4-1 summarizes the potential benefits from car-sharing. This
chapter discusses each in turn, and analyzes the extent to which
the benefit has been confirmed by empirical evidence both from
previous research, and from the member survey and focus groups
conducted as part of this research.
While there is a considerable body of existing empirical research on
the impacts of car-sharing, much of it, with some notable exceptions,
is disappointing in quality, or conducted by operators themselves
or other advocates with a strong interest in promoting car-sharing.
Sample sizes are often small, and in-depth research is often conducted
early in the program's history, meaning that the behavior of early
adopters may not reflect that of members in later years. Many studies
particularly those conducted by operators are not published in
full, with only a summary "fact sheet" released. Meanwhile, many
car-sharing members are themselves evangelists for the concept a
particular problem where the methodology relies on respondents to
predict how they would have behaved in the absence of the car-shar-
ing program, for example if they would have bought a car.
Having said that, there is remarkable consistency between the ma-
jority of studies regarding the overall impacts of car-sharing, if not
their precise magnitude. There is general agreement that car-sharing
reduces vehicle travel and vehicle ownership, and while the extent
of these benefits is still in doubt, this is likely as much due to local
circumstances both geographic and the nature of the car-sharing
program as to research design.
1. Professor David Begg, cited in Cousins (2001).
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4-1
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Chapter 4 · Impacts of Car-Sharing
Exhibit 4-1 Potential Benefits of Car-Sharing
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September 2005
4-2
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Car-Sharing: Where and How It Succeeds
Another way of understanding the impacts of car-sharing is to consider
"layered" benefits (Exhibit 4-2). The first layer relates to benefits to the
individual household or business member. The second layer consists of
transportation system impacts, while the third considers the wider envi-
ronmental and community benefits, which are often the desired outcomes.
As this chapter will show, and Exhibit 4-2 indicates, the best data on the
impacts of car-sharing exist at the individual level. While the gains at the
environment and community level are substantially greater, they are not as
well understood at present.
Exhibit 4-2 Layered Benefits of Car-Sharing
Environment/ Lower emissions
Community Cost savings for development
Less congestion
Better urban design
More compact development
Less energy/resources for
vehicle manufacturing
Transportation Lower parking demand
System More fuel-efficient vehicles
Less vehicle travel
More transit ridership
Individual/ Cost savings
Business Greater mobility
Convenience
Firm Data More Speculative
This chapter assesses a number of actual and potential environmental, eco-
nomic, and social impacts of car-sharing. Does car-sharing eliminate second
and third vehicle purchases per household? Many car-sharing companies
make substantial claims in this area (from 4 to 10 fewer vehicles on the road
for each one car-shared vehicle). This could be one factor in calculating
reduced vehicle trips in a metropolitan area, leading to the environmental
benefits mentioned above regarding increased public transit usage.
How does use of car-sharing services change the number and type of auto
trips? Do car-sharing members make more effective use of transportation
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4-3
