Skip to main content

Peer-to-peer car sharing expected to become the next big thing in the market

Frost & Sullivan’s recent customer research study on car sharing in select European cities reveals that the market is fast gaining ground. Residents in a number of cities in France, Germany as well as in the UK are currently multi-modal transport users. While only one out of four claim familiarity with the car sharing concept, once familiar, the interest levels in these services zip to 38 per cent.
October 22, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
RSSFrost & Sullivan’s recent customer research study on car sharing in select European cities reveals that the market is fast gaining ground. Residents in a number of cities in France, Germany as well as in the UK are currently multi-modal transport users. While only one out of four claim familiarity with the car sharing concept, once familiar, the interest levels in these services zip to 38 per cent.

The survey-based study, Car Sharing End User Analysis in Selected European Cities, finds that traditional car sharing will increase from 0.7 million members in 2011 to more than 15 million members in 2020. The major interest groups include the young, the well-educated, the office goers, and university students, with no children.

“The car sharing trend is catching on rapidly due to its convenience and all-inclusive nature,” said Frost & Sullivan Automotive & Transportation Research Analyst Ricardo Moreira. “The deal clincher, however, is its cost efficiency, which was cited by 61 per cent of the respondents.”

The rising popularity of car sharing services has expectedly eaten into the share of other modes of transportation, but that is not to say it will nudge them out. Potential car sharers reported that they would – for the time being - consider replacing one out of three trips with car sharing. Between 25 to 40 percent of current drivers claimed they would give up their cars and about 60 percent of non-owners said they would refrain from buying a car.

The growing of the trend can further be observed in the Frost & Sullivan forecast that traditional car sharing in Europe will reach nearly 0.24 million vehicles by 2020. Basic and small vehicles are currently popular options among car sharing operators (CSO).

The future of the market however, will be determined by peer-to-peer (P2P) car sharing. Though only 18 per cent of respondents seem willing to share their own cars, P2P car sharing has been growing rapidly since 2008, having recorded 100 per cent growth between 2010 and 2011. As a result, the market is expected to have nearly 0.31 million vehicles in operation and more than 0.74 million members by 2020.

Related Content

  • ITF Corporate Partnership Board projects highlight ways forward
    October 29, 2014
    The findings of the first four projects launched by the ITF Corporate Partnership Board (CPB), the organisation's platform for engaging with the private sector, have been announced. CPB projects are designed to enrich policy discussion with a business perspective. They are launched in areas where CPB member companies identify an emerging issue in transport policy or an innovation challenge to the transport system. Led by ITF, work is carried out in collaborative fashion in working groups consisting of CP
  • Flir takeover of Traficon and the role of thermal imaging
    February 28, 2013
    Andy Teich, president of commercial systems at Flir, discusses the growing role of thermal technology in ITS and his company’s latest high-profile acquisition with Jason Barnes. Andy Teich, Flir’s president of commercial systems, doesn’t want to talk about infrared (IR). Instead, he’d prefer, he says, to discuss ‘thermal technology’. It is, he explains, to differentiate between the imaging technologies which his company specialises in and the LED illumination of IR cameras, an altogether different beast. Fl
  • Roadside infrastructure key to in-vehicle deployment
    November 28, 2013
    The implementation of in-vehicle systems will require multilateral cooperation, as Honda’s Sue Bai explains to Colin Sowman. Vehicle manufacturers will shape the future direction of in-vehicle ITS systems, but they can’t do it on their own. So to find out what they see on the horizon, and the obstacles they face, ITS International spoke to Sue Bai, principal engineer in the Automobile Technology Research Department with Honda R&D Americas. Not only does she play an important role in Honda’s US-based ITS
  • Are truck bans the wrong move in the battle for air quality
    June 29, 2016
    Low emission zones and heavy goods vehicles’ access to city centres may at first glance appear attractive but how effective are such controls? Jon Masters reviews emerging trends across Europe. Around 1,700 European cities have implemented low emission zones (LEZs) and in addition some have restricted city centre access for heavy goods vehicles (HGVs). Even those that restrict HGV access, such as Paris and Rome, allow exemptions at certain times and for particular classes of vehicle. But with what effect?