The Market and Impacts of New Types of Carsharing Systems: Case Study of Greater London

Short-term car rental services known as Carsharing (CS) have grown rapidly from a very small base over the past decade. They are primarily found in dense urban areas in the developed world though they are reaching beyond this comfort zone in several ways. There are now more than a million subscribers worldwide. CS services generally require public sector support, though this is not always the case and may be less so in the future. Some CS systems are publicly-funded, but policymakers are taking note of this mode of transport for several other reasons as well: it affects use of other forms of transportation, it impacts on important outcomes such as emissions and parking needs, and it uses privileged access to publicly-owned on-street space. At the moment policymakers must make decisions on a very limited evidence base, in particular as regards new types of CS systems. To date a small number of studies have attempted to forecast how widespread CS services might become and the likely impacts. This paper presents forecasts prepared with a newly-developed methodology using London, England as a case study. The authors show that the potential market and impacts of CS systems are highly-dependent on the specific service features.