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Dear reader, In 2008 we welcome a new EPOMM member, Austria - represented by the Austrian ministry of Environment and the Austrian Energy Agency as National Focal Point. The programme of the ECOMM in London is now online. You can also register here In this first e-update of the year 2008 our focus is on carsharing throughout the EPOMM member states. This type of mobility service was developed first in Switzerland in the 1980-ies and can now look back on a really vibrant development in Europe: while there have been less than 50.000 users in 1997, the number has risen to over 200.000 in 2006 and keeps on growing rapidly. The personal advantages of carsharing are clear: saving money and time (no car purchase, selling, maintenance, insurance, repair, parking lot costs). Carsharers can select amongst rather new cars according to their taste: compact cars, station wagons, convertibles, vans. Global advantages are even more interesting: car sharers drive cars much less than car owners and accordingly greatly reduce overall mileage and share with other users: therefore much less street space and parking space is needed. Carsharing is a crucial element of multimodality - as it offers car mobility to persons that mainly use public transport, bicycle and walking for their mobility. Without carsharing, these persons usually buy a car and change over to a car lifestyle with all its negative impacts. It does not burden municipal budgets, as mature carsharing companies operate profitable without subsidies. So, carsharing brings multiple benefits: convenience, cost reductions and less impact on the environment. More in depth information is available on Wikipedia and on the World Carshare Consortium. In this e-update you will find information on how carsharing initiatives in Spain, The Netherlands, France, Austria, Sweden and the UK are being organised. We would appreciate feedback on the e-update and the website; also feel free to forward it to other persons so they have the possibility to subscribe. If you do not want to receive the e-update any more, please unsubscribe. If the format of the e-update on your screen is not OK, please click here to see the full screen version.
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Carsharing in Spain |
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The uptake of carsharing on the Iberian Peninsula has not been very large until now, however things
are starting to change. In the city of Barcelona, Avancar has started a carsharing
scheme offering 95 cars in 28 locations. Nowadays over 1 500 people are member of this scheme and have 6 car
models to choose from. In January 2008, a number of hybrid cars were introduced.
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Carsharing in the Netherlands |
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Since 1995, carsharing in the Netherlands is being promoted by the Foundation for Shared Car Use
(in Dutch: Vereniging voor gedeeld autogebruik). Up to now, four carsharing
providers are active nation-wide in 83 cities and municipalities, from the city of Amsterdam (740.000
inhabitants) to the town of Varik (920 inhabitants). Greenwheels,
Connectcar, Wheels4all and
Mobility Mixx offer the services. Figures show by the end of 2006,
1087 carsharing
cars were spread throughout the country. The greater part is spread in the four largest cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht. But the concept proves to be successful in smaller towns at the countryside as well.
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Carsharing in France |
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In France, there are over 20 carsharing providers. The city of Paris is actively
promoting carsharing as an additional mobility solution in the framework of its plans
to decrease overall car usage:
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Carsharing in Austria |
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Austria was one of the pioneer countries in carsharing and thus a national system developed.
This was sold off to DenzelDrive, a car rental and car importation company
in 1998. This is today by far the biggest provider, offering carsharing at more than 80 locations in
all major Austrian cities. However, 50% of the locations are based in Vienna. Denzeldrive has cooperation
agreements with the national rail operator and many local public transport operators, thus offering
seamless mobility to the customers. In the beginning of 2008 year, Denzeldrive entered a joint venture with Mobility Carsharing from Switzerland, the most successful European carsharing company. Expansion plans towards Swiss levels of service are probably underway.
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Carsharing in Sweden |
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In Sweden, there are several carsharing operators. A carsharing service exclusively providing environmentally sound cars to companies, councils and organisations named SunFleet Car Sharing is based in Göteborg, Sweden, and is part of the Hertz-Volvo Car Corporation. Established in 1999 as a development project called mobility.nu, the SunFleet carpool consists of electric, electric-hybrid and gas-hybrid cars. In Sweden telematic devices enabling a wireless link between cars, cell-phones and the carsharing database server are usual.
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Carsharing in the UK |
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In the UK, carsharing runs under the brand car clubs, as carsharing is most often used as a term for carpooling. For the UK, launched in 2000, City Car Club is the umbrella organisation of car clubs in the UK. The scheme provides for over 350 carsharing cars in 10 cities throughout the UK. City Car Club offers an online cost-simulation tool where potential users can calculate what carsharing would mean for them. Recently, City Car Club has invested in hybrid cars so all cars in the Congestion Charge Zone in the city of London are hybrid cars. Interestingly, the biggest carsharing company of the world, American Zipcar (with 5000 cars) entered the London market in 2007.
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