Car-sharing intention analysis in Japan by comparing the utility of car ownership for car-owners and non-car owners

Car sharing (CS) service has grown as one of the components of multimodal mobility in urban transport and it is expected to lead to a reduction in personal car ownership, thereby mitigating urban congestion and parking demand. It also provides last-mile mobility to complement public transport. Against this backdrop, a lot of studies have been conducted to make clear the effectiveness of CS services. However, most of the previous studies were surveys aimed at current CS users, and only a few studies have evaluated whether general car owners and non-owners might become members of CS services in the future. In this study, a survey was conducted among 1000 car owners in Japan as to whether CS services would induce them to stop owning a car. At the time of the survey, the respondents' current annual cost of owning a car was automatically displayed by calculating the amount from previous answers about their attributes. With this questionnaire method, it is presumed that respondents answered with a stronger awareness of the high cost of car ownership, so their responses might have reflected a consideration of the economic benefits of CS services. The results showed that 74% of car owners answered that they would not stop owning a car no matter how inexpensive CS services were and even if there was no risk of vehicle unavailability. The percentage was almost the same in every range of household income, and 40% said the reason was familiarity with and attachment to a car and 54% cited convenience in emergencies. These results suggest that in order to spread CS services for further reducing personal car ownership, emotional incentives are required to compensate for certain disadvantages of CS services, e.g., the lack of excitement derived from car ownership, potential non-availability in emergencies, and so on. A survey was also conducted among 1000 non-car owners in order to analyze and compare the utility of car ownership. The results showed that the perceived utility of car ownership was 2-10 times greater for owners than for non-owners. CS service providers and urban transport policymakers should be aware of this value when designing businesses and policies. Consideration should also be given to the various objectives of CS services such as between aiming to reducing car ownership and aiming to improve urban transport for non-car owners. Further research is required to optimize CS services for efficient urban transport design.