What is the role of carsharing toward a more sustainable transport behavior? Analysis of data from 80 major German cities

Abstract

The supply of as well as the demand for carsharing has been increasing in recent years. Yet, these dynamics and carsharing's function as catalyzer toward a more sustainable transport behavior in German cities are still not fully understood. For this reason, we analyze supply data for 80 large cities in Germany regarding fleet numbers and supply densities. We combine this with analyses about carsharing (non-) members by drawing on the datasets Mobility in Germany and the German Mobility Panel. We find that carsharing members use walking, cycling, or public transport 1.4–1.5 times more often and motorized individual transport, respectively, less often than nonmembers. Based on this, we build user groups regarding the people's usage of the environmental alliance (i.e., walk, bicycle, public transport). In the subsequent multinomial logistic regression analysis for the years 2013, 2015, and 2017, we find that both increasing carsharing supply and being carsharing member are not effective measures to increase the share of walking, cycling, and public transport. The availability of mobility tools, especially the number of cars in households, are more important predictors.