To get a feel for the full range of approaches we can do no better than to invite you to have a look at a selection of the web sites of the 150-plus carsharing organizations that are identified here in our World Inventory.

In a "typical" configuration carsharing aims, for example, at something on the order of a one-car-to-10 person service ratio (by way of very rough introductory approximation and with wide variations as will be seen). You will note two outstanding characteristics of these projects, where a handful of countries in Europe have taken the lead in many respects over the last decade. The first is their extreme diversity: whether in terms of size, ambition level, motivation of the organizers, basic organization, technicity (if that's a word), institutional sophistication, competence and, of course, their success. The second is the very strong and successful development push of late, after many years of barely marginal existence. As a result car sharing in these closing years of the century is an option that is now well worth considering. Surprisingly so, we might add.

There is some potential ambiguity about the name, so we must be careful to distinguish them from ride-sharing, car pooling (often and in places confusingly referred to also as 'car sharing'), organized hitch-hiking, vanpools, and similar projects where the vehicle may be shared at some time but where the main ownership and control (driving) arrangements remain essentially unchanged. (See the exchanges in the Discussion List for further background on this slight semantic irregularity.)

These projects, when framed and carried out by public interest groups -- and increasingly by and in partnership with for-profit organizations and public sector agencies and operators -- aim to enhance both the social and economic well-being of the individual and the community. (In the case of the non-profits while their motivation is exactly what you would expect it to be, there seems to be quite close attention to these broader societal objectives.. which suggests that, increasingly, they know their market.) A well run car share project can have favorable impacts in many important public areas as well: street space (parking), public transport patronage, a heightened sense of community, and even improvements in air quality and fuel savings. Some projects claim that members reduce their car use as much as 50% without any reduction in mobility or convenience (but that of course if only a claim).

16 Positive Impacts of Carsharing

1. Saves time, money and fuss for users
2. By providing 'sustainable transport's missing link" encourages greater use of public and human transport
3. Improves access for all
4. Provides major potential improvements in access for poorer citizens (as result of more and better alternative transport possibilities)
5. Permits poorer people to have effective access to own car when they need it (while not locking them into the high costs of operating an old car)
6. Reduces congestion. (Fewer cars = less traffic.)
7. Makes better use of scarce urban real estate
8. Frees up parking.
9. Improves air quality.
10. Improves public safety. (Pedestrians and cyclists benefit from fewer cars on the road.)
11. Reduces use of imported fossil fuels (thereby helping the national economy).
12. Supports the local economy 1: Former car owners save thousands per year
13. Supports the local economy 2: Less money spent on road construction, maintenance and policing
14. Provides a means for more economic use of fleet cars
15. Helps fight obesity and other diseases linked to insufficient physical activity
16. Encourages neighborliness and cooperative action by citizens - thereby setting a model for other social and economic problems of the city

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Names and Definitions

These projects are of course geographically dispersed. Further, and not always fully appreciated, there is already a full generation of thinking, writing, and attempts at making a go of all this, about which it is useful to know before pushing ahead with yet another try. In technical and organizational terms the variety has been and continues to be huge. And if for years there were more setbacks than permanent successes, this situation has now turned about radically.

If you look just to your left you will find several definitions of carsharing from different course, which may be useful as a reminder of the range of approaches and operations that are involved.

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International Status Report

• Cities in which you can carshare in 2004

• World CarSahre Inventory of CSOs

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Listen to What One Project is Saying

Here, thanks to our friends at the Carsharing Network in Canada, is an interview that took place on August 4 of last year on Oregon Public Radio. The program is based on interviews with a number of people concerned with this project and runs for approximately five minutes. Europeans may get a kick out of the language., but whether or not that is the case what is most striking here is the steady advances that are being made in both the theory and practice -- all the more striking if we consider that the States has traditionally been considered the record setting world worst case for car sharing. So perhaps we might listen and learn from them.

"Some folks in environmentally aware Portland have come up with a new spin on car leasing. A company called Carsharing, Inc. will rent a car for as short a time as an hour. It's a way, they say, to have use of a car without monthly car payments, maintenance or repair bills.

You will need RealAudio for this. If you don't have it, you can download it freely here. And if you want further background on RealAudio, you my wish to check into our Software Tools section.

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The Bottom Line -- Carsharing Works!

The present is that things are moving ahead now in some fundamental and far-reaching ways that are setting the stage for a very different future. With considerable potential in environmental and sustainability terms. So, if you chose to spend some time here, we ask you to prepare to be surprised. After all, we were.

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