By Richard Dilks, CEO, CoMoUK

Car sharing is continuing to increase in popularity and use levels in the UK. In 2022, there were just under 6,000 car club vehicles in the UK – an increase, but a drop in the ocean compared to the 35.1m cars in use on UK roads. At the same time, there was an 11.3% increase in car club members, up to 752,560.

Despite the growth in car sharing in recent years, however, there are still barriers to its uptake. 

Provision is obviously critical – which is where the lack of policy support for shared transport from central and local government is important. We should have policies that favour car sharing and really implement them in the real world, not just limited to a policy document left on a shelf. User research of shared transport users, whether in shared cars or shared bikes, shows that there's a very heavy interdependency between using shared cars and other forms of shared mobility, walking and cycling, and using public transport.

Modal interdependency

If the bulk of a person’s journeys are by car, car sharing isn’t going to work for them. The pricing is set up to provide occasional access to a car. Frequency varies, but 70% of UK car club users use the cars five times a year or less. This is a big part of the point of car clubs: they funnel people into all sorts of other, more sustainable modes. The role of public transport, and good walking and cycling routes, is massively important to how well a car club does. 

The actual car sharing fleet size in the UK hasn’t grown hugely: the real growth has come in the increase in car club members. That’s good news because it means that you've got a more efficiently used fleet and we're reaching more people, not just the existing people using it more. 

Encouraging greater sharing

Shared transport needs awareness, promotion and incentivisation to get people to give it a go. Our research tracks use satisfaction with shared transport schemes and we've consistently found it to be very high – over 80%, in fact. Once people give it a go, they like it. The challenge is about getting them to give it a go in the first place.

Very little subsidy goes into shared transport, so there are gaps in coverage because there are areas where it's not going to be commercially viable. Car club coverage is pretty good, but it could certainly be better. If you look at other nations in comparison, Germany for example, has three times the provision of the UK, per head of population. London is also mid-table or lower compared to other European cities, so there's definitely a provision and policy challenge. 

The positives of car sharing are there for all to see. Each car club vehicle in the UK replaces 22 private cars, on average (29 in London). As a result, 150 hectares, or land equivalent to the area of London’s Hyde Park, is freed up across the UK by the car reduction due to car clubs. 

Central government policy and support now needs to be targeted to create more provision, promotion and incentivisation to make that strong growth even stronger.