Abstract
Car sharing services have expanded in order to meet the new necessities of mobility worldwide in an innovative way. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, car sharing was a very popular mode of transportation among young adults in big cities. However, during this ongoing pandemic and with public transportation considered a super-spreading transmitter, the usage of car sharing is unclear. Therefore, the aim of this study, which is explorative in nature, is to investigate the usage, advantages, drivers, and barriers to car sharing during this ongoing pandemic era. To this end, 66 interviews were conducted among users of car sharing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings provide key information for the planning of car sharing operations and public transportation in the context of avoiding COVID-19 infection and respecting the recommendations of local governments. In addition, new emerging profiles of car sharing users in the ongoing pandemic are identified. This research provides relevant insights for both business practice and policy makers.
Highlights
The aim of this study, which is explorative in nature, is to investigate the usage, drivers, and barriers of car sharing usage in the ongoing pandemic era
Car sharing usage was established in order to answer RQ1: Usage of car sharing in the ongoing pandemic
A proper measure to reduce the risk of viral transmission is deep sanitisation of common surfaces on public transportation
Summary
Free-floating car sharing allows customers to temporarily use a car and leave it at the trip destination, where the user will pick it up [9] Companies such as Uber are not considered car sharing companies and are not included in this study, as they provide vehicles with a driver to a traditional taxi, while using an application to connect drivers and users (www.uber.com, accessed on 16 December 2021). This research provides fresh insight into the future of car sharing, detecting the obstacles that shared mobility will experience in the near future. It can help car sharing mobility companies to survive this crisis and complex environment, adapting their operations and services to avoid losing customer trust. This article ends with a final section that contains an analysis of the results and conclusions based on empirical analysis, and proposes future lines of research
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