Worldwide Carsharing Continues to Grow in Use, Form

May 2, 2018

UC Berkeley’s Transportation Sustainability Research Center Releases Carsharing Market Annual Report

The sharing economy is charging full steam ahead according to the Transportation Sustainability Research Center (TSRC), a leading provider of independent shared mobility research, in their latest release of their worldwide carsharing market outlookhttps://escholarship.org/uc/item/49j961wb. Professor Susan Shaheen and TSRC have been tracking carsharing developments worldwide since 1997.

“Growth in carsharing systems continues worldwide with 46 countries across the globe. Asia now represents the largest market based on membership size at nearly 60 percent worldwide, followed by Europe and North America,” says Shaheen Co-Director of TSRC and Adjunct Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley.

In 2018, TSRC released its new Shared Mobility Resources pagehttp://innovativemobility.org/?page_id=2762, which includes a brand new policy briefs section and their first North American Peer-to-Peer Carsharing evaluation.

The worldwide carsharing outlook highlights the following market developments:

  • As of October 2016, carsharing was operating in 46 countries and 6 continents, accounting for an approximately 15 million members sharing over 157,000 vehicles across nearly 2,100 cities globally. 
  • Asia, the largest carsharing region measured by membership, accounts for 58 percent of worldwide membership and 43 percent of global fleets deployed. The world’s second largest carsharing market, Europe, accounts for 29 percent of worldwide members and 37 percent of vehicle fleets.
  • As of October 2016, one-way carsharing accounted for 30.98 percent of global membership and 26 percent of global fleets deployed. The 2016 global one-way market share represents a 76 percent increase in membership and 11.5 percent increase in fleets since 2014.
  • As of October 2016, roundtrip carsharing accounted for 69 percent and 73.9 percent of global membership and fleets deployed, respectively. The 2016 roundtrip carsharing market represents a 16.2 percent decrease in global membership and 3.6 percent decrease in global fleets since 2014.
  • Regionally, Europe had the largest percentage of one-way membership, representing 66.1 percent of the region’s carsharing membership. Oceania had the greatest percentage of one-way fleets regionally, representing 79.4 percent of the continent’s carsharing fleets.

Recent Publications

Shaheen, Susan, Elliot Martin, and Apaar Bansal. 2018. “Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Carsharing: Understanding Early Markets, Social Dynamics, and Behavioral Impacts.” Berkeley, California: University of California Transportation Center. DOI: 10.7992/G2FN14BD. Available at: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7s8207tb

Shaheen, Susan; Bayen, Alexandre; Cohen, Adam; Forscher, Teddy. 2018. Policy Briefs. Institute for Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley. Available at: http://innovativemobility.org/?page_id=2762

Shaheen, Susan; Cohen, Adam; Yelchuru, Balaji; and Sarkhili, Sara. 2017. Mobility on Demand Operational Concept Report. U.S. Department of Transportation. Report # FHWA-JPO-18-611. Available at: https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/34258

Shaheen, Susan; Bell, Corwin; Cohen, Adam; and Yelchuru, Balaji. 2017. Travel Behavior: Shared Mobility and Transportation Equity. U.S. Department of Transportation. Report # PL-18-007. Available at: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/otps/shared_use_mobility_equity_final.pdf

About Transportation Sustainability Research Center
The Transportation Sustainability Research Center (TSRC) was formed in 2006. TSRC is managed by the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. TSRC uses a wide range of analysis and evaluation tools including: questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, automated data collection systems, and simulation models to collect data and perform analysis and data interpretation. The center develops impartial findings and recommendations for key issues of interest to policymakers to aid in decision making. In addition to the center’s shared mobility research, key studies include: automated vehicles; equity and environmental justice; ecodriving/ecorouting for private vehicles and freight; smart parking management for public transit and trucks; and fuel cell, electric, and plug-in hybrid vehicles and infrastructure.

SOURCE: Transportation Sustainability Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley

For further information:
Adam Cohen, Research Associate, TSRC, apcohen@berkeley.edu
www.innovativemobility.org
Twitter: @innovmobility