Alternate green and carsharing mobility options: A strategy to fight climate change in oil producing countries

Abstract

In Kuwait, the number of private cars is significantly high. Hence, reducing private car ownership is one of the main necessary approaches to minimize greenhouse gas emissions. Globally, cities are countering the increase in private car ownership by providing a reliable public transportation system. In Kuwait, public transport consists of a bus system, which is not widely accepted by users since it does not provide connectivity to desired locations. However, providing carsharing services and ride-sourcing can be an alternative mode. In 2019, a service called Careem was launched in Kuwait which is considered a leading ride-sourcing company in the region. Meanwhile, carsharing is not introduced yet to Kuwait. This study aims to evaluate people acceptance of carsharing and evaluate the available transport modes in Kuwait which are Careem, Taxi, Private car and Bus. 373 people participated in this study through an online questionnaire, 40% of them were willing to use carsharing when it is introduced. Additionally, Chi-square test verified that males are more likely to use taxi and Careem services. Moreover, car availability had the biggest influence on not using public transport modes. To evaluate the current transport modes and the accessibility of transport modes, 5 trips with 5 different origins and destinations were selected. The results indicated that private car is the quickest mode followed by Careem. However, public transport showed bad results with no access in Al-Jahra area, with walking time exceeding 30 min from and to the station. The required carsharing vehicles was estimated using the questionnaire data, referring to the number of carsharing in Dubai. It was concluded that there should be at least a single car sharing in 785,398 m2. In order to increase the acceptance of public transport modes, it is highly recommended to extend its tours to cover more regions and reallocate bus stations to reduce walking time for users.