Car-sharing offers route to decongestion

Date: 06/02/03

By Martin Banks

A NEW drive has been launched to encourage more car-sharing schemes on residential developments across the EU.

Under such schemes, only a limited number of car parking spaces are made available on each estate.

Instead of using their own cars, residents are encouraged to make use of a vehicle from a nearby car pool.

The idea is to have a range of vehicles available, which can be booked 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The car 'station' operator takes care of cleaning, maintenance and insurance.

MOSES (Mobility Services for Urban Sustainability), a Bremen-based research project supported and part-financed by the European Commission, says car-sharing is ideal for tackling traffic congestion and environmental problems in urban areas.

The group estimates that each car-share vehicle replaces four to seven private cars. Although there are an estimated 100,000 car-share users, mostly in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and the Netherlands, car-sharing is not yet an EU-wide phenomenon.

Project coordinator Michael Glotz-Richter said: "Our cities have common problems - too many cars and limited space. Transport problems are not only caused by the current traffic levels but also by the number of parked cars.

"In order to improve the quality of life in our cities, it is necessary to win back space for ecological and social functions.

"The message we're trying to get across is that a city with less cars will have more places for people."

As well as Bremen, MOSES has partners in London, Stockholm, Turin, Genoa, Palermo, Bucharest and in the Walloon region of Belgium.

The partner cities are those with which MOSES is liasing, although some have not yet developed their own car-sharing projects.

Elsewhere, non-MOSES cities have already set up schemes. One of the largest is in Amsterdam, where one housing estate consisting of 600 apartments has only 180 car parking spaces.

Glotz-Richter said: "The entire inner area is car-free and there are water gardens, squares and other amenities which contribute to the high quality of the scheme and would not have been achieved with conventional car parking.

"The development is particularly attractive for families because children may play without the threat of accidents in the entire area."

The Beginenhof housing project in Bremen comprises 50 homes and has a public car-sharing station on its premises. Underground parking has been reduced to just one-third of a conventional development to keep vehicle numbers down in the area.

In another scheme in Hamburg where underground parking was not possible, a car-sharing service is provided in the rental contracts for all flats as well as a season ticket for the city's public transport.

A number of low-car housing schemes, with car-sharing facilities, are currently being built in London.

In one scheme in the east of the UK capital, only 50% of the 500 residences will be provided with parking spaces.

Under a plan agreed with the developer, car hire company Avis has set up a car-sharing project which will provide some 19 cars for use by residents.

To help promote the 'car-on-call' concept, MOSES organised a symposium and exhibition at the European Parliament in Brussels last week.

Jose Daras, transport minister in Belgium's Walloon region, says that car-sharing there had proved popular.

"By releasing space that would otherwise be used for parking, low-car or car-free housing schemes represent a more efficient and sustainable form of development within urban areas," he said.

A new drive has been launched to encourage more car-sharing schemes on residential developments across the EU.