The Impact of Carsharing on Car Ownership in German Cities

Kurzfassung

Carsharing, currently growing strongly in Germany, is an important instrument for sustainable urban mobility. The present boom is mainly due to so-called "free-floating carsharing". Whilst the environmental effects of station-based carsharing have been intensively studied in the German-speaking context, to date there have been hardly any empirical findings on the effect of free-floating carsharing. Using the example of DriveNow and Flinkster in Berlin and Munich, this article examines to what extent free-floating carsharing leads to a reduction of car ownership compared to station-based carsharing. Based on online surveys (n=819/227) carried out within the “WiMobil” project (9/2012 – 10/2015), descriptive analyses and two binary logistic regressions were performed. The findings show that station-based and free-floating carsharing leads to a reduction of private cars but to different degrees (DriveNow 7%; Flinkster 15%). The shedding of cars is influenced by the frequency of use of carsharing and the increasing membership of station-based carsharing providers. Furthermore, for many people of both systems carsharing is an important reason not to buy a car. But there is also a significant proportion of people planning a car purchase. This is true especially for car-savvy persons for whom car ownership is very important. Thus, carsharing can be an important factor for sustainable urban mobility. In order to maximize the positive effects of carsharing, it is of central importance to reach additional user groups such as women and elderly people with private car ownership.