What role does free-floating car sharing play for changes in car ownership? Evidence from longitudinal survey data and population segments in Copenhagen

Free-floating car sharing (FFCS) offers greater flexibility than station-based car sharing but seems to affect car ownership less. This study looks into characteristics of people who changed or did not change car ownership over time and how an increase or decrease relates to FFCS membership, demographic and attitudinal factors.

The study is based on FFCS users (n = 776) and non-users (n = 720) in Copenhagen surveyed two times within a 2.5-year period. Five population segments were created: car dependents, car avoiders, and car limiters who showed constant but different levels of car ownership; car aspirers who increased, and car sellers who decreased car ownership over time.

The segments' profiles range from car dependents who show high affective car motives, high perceived mobility necessities and car dependency at the one end, and car avoiders who seem more driven by environmental norms and an instrumental relation to the car, at the other end of the scale. A multinomial regression predicting whether car owners increased or decreased the number of cars in the household during the project period found a positive effect of FFCS membership for decreasing car ownership.

However, the effect was no longer significant when adding the intention to reduce car ownership at the time of the first survey. Main factors that remained significant for changed car ownership included a change in household composition, access to a private parking space and the initial number of cars in the household.

The paper discusses strategies to increase the contribution of FFCS to car ownership reduction.