Car Sharing

Description

Catherine Marie Simpson:

"Car sharing, not to be confused with ‘ride sharing’ or ‘car pooling,’ involves a number of people using cars that are parked centrally in dedicated car bays around the inner city. After becoming a member (much like a 6 or 12 monthly gym membership), the cars can be booked (and extended) by the hour via the web or phone. They can then be accessed via a smart card. In Sydney there are 3 car sharing organisations operating: Flexicar (http://www.flexicar.com.au/), CharterDrive (http://www.charterdrive.com.au/) and GoGet (http://www.goget.com.au/).[1] The largest of these, GoGet, has been operating for 6 years and has over 5000 members and 200 cars located predominantly in the inner city suburbs. Anecdotally, GoGet claims its membership is primarily drawn from professionals living in the inner-urban ring. Their motivation for joining is, firstly, the convenience that car sharing provides in a congested, public transport-challenged city like Sydney; secondly, the financial savings derived; and thirdly, members consider the environmental and social benefits axiomatic. [2] The promotion tactics of car sharing seems to reflect this by barely mentioning the environment but focusing on those aspects which link car sharing to futuristic and flexible subjectivities which I outline in the next section.

Unlike traditional car rental, the vehicles in car sharing are scattered through local streets in a network allowing local residents and businesses access to the vehicles mostly on foot. One car share vehicle is used by 22-24 members and gets about seven cars off the street (Mehlman 22). With lots of different makes and models of vehicles in each of their fleets, Flexicar’s website claims, “around the corner, around the clock” “Flexicar offers you the freedom of driving your own car without the costs and hassles of owning one,” while GoGet asserts, “like owning a car only better.” Due to the initial lack of interest from government, all the car sharing organisations in Australia are privately owned. This is very different to the situation in Europe where governments grant considerable financial assistance and have often integrated car sharing into pre-existing public transport networks. (http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/viewArticle/176)

Examples

Car-sharing in Japan

From an extensive report at http://www.japanfs.org/en/mailmagazine/newsletter/pages/028678.html :

"How has car sharing spread in Japan so far? According to a survey by the Foundation for Promoting Personal Mobility and Ecological Transportation (known as the Eco-Mo Foundation), there were 19 car-sharing organizations in Japan as of August 2008, and a total of 522 cars were being shared by 3,875 registered members at 323 car stations. The numbers of cars and car stations more than doubled and the number of members increased by half compared with a survey in January 2007, only a year and a half earlier.

There are a number of reasons that car-sharing systems are growing in Japan. One is the recent soaring prices of gasoline and commodities.

Another is the growing general awareness of environmental issues and spread of eco-friendly lifestyles. Also, many young people are clearly less interested in owning cars than before. One could say that Japanese society is becoming more accepting of green lifestyles, sometimes described by a new business concept called "green servicizing," which refers to the use of the services or functions of products rather than the ownership of products themselves.

Green Servicizing Businesses: http://www.japanfs.org/en/mailmagazine/newsletter/pages/027834.html

The national government has recently begun to encourage car sharing as a means of public transport. It is setting the stage for spreading the idea of car sharing nationwide by supporting local governments that have promoted car sharing, and by modifying regulations." (http://www.japanfs.org/en/mailmagazine/newsletter/pages/028678.html)

1. ORIX Auto Co., http://www.orix.co.jp/auto/english/index.htm
2. Petit Renta, http://www.orix-carsharing.com/ (in Japanese)

Discussion

Advantages

"How can a car-sharing system reduce environmental impacts? In Japan, the CO2 emissions from transport sector amounted to 254 million tons in 2006, accounting for about 20 percent of total emissions, and half of the emissions from the transport sector were from family cars. A survey about car sharing by the Eco-Mo Foundation in 2005 showed that when car-sharing systems were introduced in urban areas, members' travel distances and number of cars owned dropped by 79 percent and 76 percent, respectively.

The number of car use by car-sharers in the survey dropped dramatically, while the number that used public transportation, cycled or walked increased. By travelling less, the car-sharers saved 450,000 yen (about U.S.$ 4,290) in costs per year and reduced their CO2 emissions from car use by about 30 percent (or 1.89 tons of CO2 equivalent annually).

The study thus showed that a car-sharing system can reduce the wasteful use of cars and bring about positive effects, such as

(1) easing traffic congestion in urban areas,

(2) supporting the use of public transportation systems,

(3) contributing to urban environmental measures,

(4) easing pressure on limited parking space in cities, and

(5) helping reduce global warming by lowering CO2 emissions." (http://www.japanfs.org/en/mailmagazine/newsletter/pages/028678.html)

More Information

1. Green Servicing ; Collaborative Consumption
2. Car-sharing tag for updates: http://delicious.com/mbauwens/Car-sharing
3. Car Sharing Gaining Popularity in Japanese Cities, http://www.japanfs.org/en/pages/026694.html
4. Cars, Climates and Subjectivity: Car Sharing and Resisting Hegemonic Automobile Culture?