The effect of a low minimum parking requirement in combination with carsharing on the use of carsharing and car ownership

Abstract

In this paper, we study the effect of a low parking requirement in combination with dedicated carsharing at a residential building on car ownership and use of carsharing. This paper aims to develop a conceptual model to describe these effects. Comparable to customary theories in transport geography, this conceptual model includes socio-demographic factors, attitudes, residential relocation and the built environment. Besides, the interests, goals and experiences of stakeholders that include these combinations are analysed. The analysis is based on a series of 12 semi-structured interviews with carsharing providers, municipalities and developers in the Netherlands. Using two examples of residential buildings that include a low parking requirement and carsharing, this article examines to what extent parking requirement and offering carsharing leads to a reduction of car ownership and use of carsharing compared to control cases. Based on online surveys (n=18/68) carried out, descriptive analyses and binary analysis were performed.
The findings show that the stakeholders have the same goals. However, they have different experiences regarding car use and car ownership. The effects on car ownership and use of carsharing may also be influenced by other factors that are described in the conceptual model. Lastly, the findings of the differences between the selected and the control cases, show that it often appears that households in the selected cases did not have a car beforehand. Moreover, offering a shared car does not have a clear influence on its use. However, the use of the shared car and the ownership of the shared car may be explained by other factors. Moreover, the differences are not statistically significant.