Skip to main content

Evolving commuters' demands to pave the way for car-sharing business models

Physical integration of public transit systems with car-sharing will enhance convenience and drive growth opportunities, finds Frost & Sullivan's Mobility Team. Its latest study, Future of Car-sharing Market to 2025, says that with vehicle automation rapidly gaining currency, cars-haring operators (CSOs) are developing novel business models to address the evolving mobility demands of commuters. They will initially offer self-parking services, allowing members to drop off vehicles at designated parking lo
October 5, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Physical integration of public transit systems with car-sharing will enhance convenience and drive growth opportunities, finds 2097 Frost & Sullivan's Mobility Team.

Its latest study, Future of Car-sharing Market to 2025, says that with vehicle automation rapidly gaining currency, cars-haring operators (CSOs) are developing novel business models to address the evolving mobility demands of commuters. They will initially offer self-parking services, allowing members to drop off vehicles at designated parking lots, and gradually roll out short-distance parking service, wherein self-driven vehicles will be driven into parking lots. Finally, once complete automation is possible, collaboration with key players and convergence with public transport will change the mobility industry.

As automated driving will dilute the need for personal ownership, traditional car owners will gravitate toward car-sharing services. Furthermore, the worsening levels of traffic congestion and pollution due to the development of mega-cities and urbanisation foster a favourable environment for efficient travel services.

"The convenience, flexibility and security of car-sharing services make a strong case for the adoption of integrated mobility services," said Mobility senior research analyst Krishna Achuthan. "This, in turn, will lead to a number of mergers and acquisitions among industry majors that recognise the market benefits of offering such systems and digital platforms."

In addition to market consolidation, technology advances and government initiatives will give a huge boost to car-sharing services, with the number subscribers expected to cross 36 million by 2025 from 7.9 million in 2015. However, to achieve optimum market potential, CSOs need to counter the high insurance cost and inadequate demand in areas with low population density.

1731 BMW's 6452 DriveNow and ReachNow, 2069 Daimler's 4190 Car2Go, 3874 Zipcar, Bollore Group and GM currently are the prominent players in the space. This pool of competitors is set to expand with advances in public transit systems.

"Physical integration of public transit systems with car-sharing will allow users to book both cars and train tickets through one single mobile app and thereby, enhance convenience and drive member growth," noted Achuthan. "In future, car-sharing models are likely to expand to include peer-to-peer and corporate services on the same platform, as well as consolidate with adjacent mobility services like leasing, car rental and bike sharing."

Related Content

  • Saving the world, one parking space at a time
    December 7, 2020
    Donald Shoup, professor of urban planning at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), tells Adam Hill about why parking is too cheap – and how Monopoly could seriously raise its game
  • Traffic management market ‘worth US$17.64 billion 2020’
    January 13, 2016
    According to a new market research report published by MarketsandMarkets, the traffic management market is predicted to grow from US$4.12 billion in 2015 to US$17.64 billion by 2020, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 33.8 per cent during the forecast period. Increasing environmental concerns, rapid urbanisation and population explosion, together with demand for real-time information are the main drivers driving the growth of the market. The increasing need to access real-time information capture
  • MaaS Markets conference leads delegates from concept to delivery
    December 5, 2016
    MaaS Market is ITS International’s first conference and will provide delegates with the information they need to move from concept to delivery.
  • Fleet management systems ‘will reach 12 million units in the Americas by 2018’
    October 3, 2014
    According to a new research report from analyst firm Berg Insight, the number of active fleet management systems deployed in commercial vehicle fleets in North America was four million in Q4-2013. Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.3 per cent, this number is expected to reach 8.1 million by 2018. In Latin America, the number of active fleet management systems is expected to increase from 1.9 million in Q4-2013, growing at a CAGR of 16.1 per cent to reach 3.9 million in 2018. The top t