What is Car Sharing
Car Sharing is fast becoming prevalent around the world. Car Sharing can be found in more than one thousand cities. Generally users rent cars for short periods of time, often by the hour.
This is an attractive option to people who make only occasional use of a vehicle, as well as others who would like occasional access to a vehicle of a different type than they use day-to-day.
What is Car Sharing
The principle of car sharing is simple: Individuals gain the benefits of private vehicle use without the costs and responsibilities of ownership. Rather than owning one or more vehicles, a household or business has access to a fleet of shared-use cars on an as-needed basis. Individuals gain access to cars by joining GreenShareCar, we maintain a fleet of vehicles which are parked in designated spaces throughout a network of locations.
Cars are accessed on an as-needed basis and members are typically charged each time they use a car. Members are not required to carry any insurance of their own, every membership includes full liability and collision coverage on the company policy. Petrol, maintenance, and all car costs are paid by GreenShareCar, servicing is also included. Cars are equipped with a petrol card for use at any participating location (the vast majority of petrol stations throughout Australia).
Filling the Mobility Gap
The primacy of car-based mobility has become a widespread problem in most cities in the world. In Australia, the situation is no different; the car has an even more dominant role than in European cities. In Australia, transport is the fastest growing sector contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions from transport are second in magnitude only to the stationary energy sector.
Enormous amounts of land and capital are bound up with cars, roads and parking space. This is a result of high levels of private car ownership. Although in medium and high-density urban areas many people walk, cycle and use public transport, there are occasions when they still see a need for some car travel. This is the 'mobility gap' that car sharing seeks to fill.
The Positive Impacts of Car Sharing
Car sharing offers a range of individual and community benefits. It serves as a "missing link" in the spectrum of alternative travel choices by filling the occasional service gaps left by other more environmentally friendly transportation modes such as walking, cycling, and transit. This increases the viability of a largely car-free lifestyle.