Car Sharing Market Development in Russia

Abstract

Car sharing is one of the fastest growing sectors of the shared consumption economy. The paper examines the current trends and prospects of car sharing in Russia and analyzes the factors that impede the development of this service. According to the results of the study, the popularity of car sharing among Russian users, as well as indicators characterizing the development of the market (transaction volume, number of trips, fleet size, etc.) has been growing rapidly over the past five years. The car sharing market is concentrated in the Moscow metropolitan area and has a high degree of monopolization. The number of users and the size of the car sharing fleet are still insignificant in comparison with the number of car owners and with the fleet of personal cars. The most significant factors hindering the development of car sharing include a lack of user awareness, difficulties with renting a car within walking distance, user concerns about possible car damage, technical failures, personal data leakage, as well as a lesser sense of privacy, safety and comfort compared to personal cars. The elimination of the identified negative factors (increasing user awareness, improving the availability of car sharing, etc.) will contribute to a more rapid development of car sharing.