What do we see?
Car sharing has grown significantly in the past few years, having evolved from around 19,600 memberships in 2016 to 82,000 in 2021. Between 2017 and 2021, the number of car sharers has increased fourfold, with a 21% growth between 2020 and 2021.
What’s the aim?
In a circular economy, an increase in car sharing could optimise the car use intensity and in doing so reduce the number of personal cars. This would also mean a reduction of our material and carbon footprint. More car sharing memberships could be a cornerstone for a more circular mobility model in cities. However, for this to really work users need to consider car sharing as an alternative to personal cars, not as an additional service. When used as an alternative, car sharing is part of a transition from individual passenger cars to a more multi-model lifestyle in which public transport would also play a bigger role.
What does this indicator measure?
The car sharing uptake is defined by the number of car sharing memberships per year in Flanders. Provided by autodelen.net, the data for this indicator is the number of car sharing memberships estimated at the beginning of each reported year. This means that each number refers to the number of car sharers in the previous year.