A surprising number of European communities--some 300 in all--located in eight countries currently operate "car sharing" clubs. Surfing the Internet with "car sharing" as a search term recently yielded an extraordinary 700-plus entries.
Even conceding that not all the entries related directly to the subject, the wide geographic spread and seriousness of the authors document what has become an incipient trend that is gathering steam. The European car share fleets now number several thousand vehicles with some 36,000 members, at last report.
According to press reports, Austria has become the latest to climb aboard. "Easydrive," a joint initiative of the Austrian Automobile Club and the Denzel car rental firm, offers club members 70 cars at 50 locations throughout the country. In recent weeks, the membership passed the one thousand mark.
The program has a one-time membership fee equivalent to about $90 and a charge equivalent to $1.50 per hour and 40 cents per mile, including gas and full insurance coverage. Most members are located in Vienna, the capital city. In second place is the state of Vorarlberg, next to Switzerland, where more than 120 members have already registered. Club manager Wolfgang Bauer said about 10 new members join every day.
European car sharing has grown steadily since its beginnings in 1991, with a growth rate of 50 percent to 60 percent a year and 40 active clubs currently registered. It is beginning to get a governmental stamp of approval, at least at the local government level.
ATG Switzerland, which operates some 300 vehicles, is said to be the largest of the clubs, with pickup points in over 100 Swiss communities. If this European minitrend continues, it could help promote the use of public transit and start to have a beneficial impact on downtown congestion. An increasing number of households and public offices could be persuaded to give up their cars and switch to public transit, using the car share vehicles for trips that could not otherwise be accomplished conveniently.
At present, only two car share organizations are reported operating in North America, both in the Canadian province of Quebec. AutoCom in Quebec City and CommunAuto of Montreal were reported last year to have 170 members and 18 cars, and 40 members and six cars, respectively.
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