Does Car-Sharing Reduce Car-Use? An Impact Evaluation of Car-Sharing in Flanders, Belgium

Private car-use is a major contributor of greenhouse gases. Car-sharing is often hypothesised as a potential solution to reduce car-ownership, which can lead to car-sharing users reducing their car-use. However, there is a risk that car-sharing may also increase car-use amongst some users. Existing studies on the impacts of car-sharing on car-use are often based on estimates of the users’ own judgement of the effects; few studies make use of quasi-experimental methods. In this paper, the impact of car-sharing on car-ownership and car-use in Flanders, Belgium is estimated using survey data from... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Donald A. Chapman
Johan Eyckmans
Karel Van Acker
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2020
Reihe/Periodikum: Sustainability, Vol 12, Iss 8155, p 8155 (2020)
Verlag/Hrsg.: MDPI AG
Schlagwörter: car-sharing / sustainable transport / sharing economy / impact evaluation / Environmental effects of industries and plants / TD194-195 / Renewable energy sources / TJ807-830 / Environmental sciences / GE1-350
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-27471330
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://doi.org/10.3390/su12198155

Private car-use is a major contributor of greenhouse gases. Car-sharing is often hypothesised as a potential solution to reduce car-ownership, which can lead to car-sharing users reducing their car-use. However, there is a risk that car-sharing may also increase car-use amongst some users. Existing studies on the impacts of car-sharing on car-use are often based on estimates of the users’ own judgement of the effects; few studies make use of quasi-experimental methods. In this paper, the impact of car-sharing on car-ownership and car-use in Flanders, Belgium is estimated using survey data from both sharers and non-sharers. The impact on car-use is estimated using zero-inflated negative binomial regression, applied to matched samples of car-sharing users and non-users. The results show that the car-sharing may reduce car-use, but only if a significant number of users reduce their car-ownership. Policy intervention may therefore be required to ensure car-sharing leads to a reduction in car-use by, for example, discouraging car-ownership. Further research using quasi-experimental methods is required to illuminate whether the promise of car-sharing is reflected in reality.