Berlin, 27.02.2014

Sharing not owning is a trend still persisting. So the annual balance of German carsharing, issued today by Bundesverband CarSharing e.V., shows that customer numbers went up considerably: meanwhile more than 750,000 users bank on the principle “using not owning” on German streets thus continuing the trend for carsharing observed in years. By now more than 1.1 per cent of the German population aged older than 17 participate in carsharing.

At the beginning of this year 757,000 customers had registered with one of Germanys 150 or so carsharing providers. Compared to the previous year this is an increase of 67.1 per cent. 320,000 customers had registered with providers offering station based carsharing (a plus of 50,000) while free-floating schemes counted 437,000 customers (a plus of 254,000). For the first time the quota of carsharing customers in relation to the overall population aged 18 or older exceeded the one per cent hurdle.

These customers have 7,700 cars at 3,900 pick-up stations and 6,250 cars from free-floating schemes at their disposal. With station-based carsharing an average of 42 customers share one car as do 70 customers of free-floating schemes.

Willi Loose, CEO of bcs, comments: “Dynamics of free-floating schemes are limited to a few German cities. They operate in 14 cities in all. Dissemination, however, is accomplished by station-based carsharing, which is operating in 380 cities and communities. Related to the people living in these cities and communities 33.35 million inhabitants are supplied with a station-based carsharing offer. Free-floating systems can be found in cities with altogether 9.31 million inhabitants.”

„Carsharing is a useful mobility service from an ecological point of view as well as from an economical one. Only by an intelligent combination of all modes of locomotion will we be able to provide mobility for everyone in the future. It will become part of many people’s routine to switch daily several times between walking, biking, using public transport, carsharing and a private car” says Martin zur Nedden, head of Deutsches Institut für Urbanistik (difu).

“From a municipalities point of view we appreciate the strong increase in registered carsharing customers very much. It is crucial for cities that through carsharing people give up their cars, bundle trips and reduce parking shortage as a result” says Hilmar von Lojewski of German Association of Cities. “According to past studies up to 11 cars can be replaced by one station-based carsharing car. Many cities have gathered a first positive experience with carsharing and rely on this service in addition to their own car pool for business trips.”

Karlsruhe maintained the title “Carsharing capital of Germany” in the city comparison conducted by bcs in September. With almost two carsharing cars (1.93) per 1,000 inhabitants the Baden metropolis beats other cities by a large distance. Dr. Frank Mentrup, senior mayor of Karlsruhe says during the press conference: “Carsharing relieves inner cities from private transport, reduces exhaust pollution and has a positive impact on the private budget of its customers. Stadtmobil, the provider operating in Karlsruhe, and all other carsharing providers make a contribution to the quality of life in our cities not to be underestimated.”

Note:
For this survey bcs collected data from all known carsharing providers. Since some customers are registered with two or more providers double counts may occur. This applies especially for customers of free-floating schemes in big cities of more than 500,000 inhabitants if several free-floating providers are operating there. Since customer data of different providers are not squared, these double counts are inevitable.

Further Information:
You’ll find a data sheet for the carsharing balance as of 01 January 2014, diagrams on carsharing development for the past years as well as further information and licence-free fotos on the press website of Bundesverband CarSharing e. V.:
/presse .

Short info:
Bundesverband CarSharing e. V. represents the branch’s political interests at regional and national level. About 110 carsharing providers are members of bcs.

Annexes:

pdf-download data sheet: data_sheet_carsharing_01.01.2014.pdf

pdf-download Press Release: pr_carsharing-bilanz_2013_englisch.pdf

pdf-download chart carsharing growth altogether: grafik_entwicklung_carsharing_in_deutschland_2014_gesamtdarstellung.pdf

pdf-download chart carsharing growth parallel: grafik_entwicklung_carsharing_in_deutschland_2014_parallel.pdf

pdf-download chart spatial dissemination: raeumliche_verbreitung_carsharing_in_deutschland_2014.pdf

Responsible and contact: Bundesverband CarSharing e. V. (bcs),
Willi Loose, CEO,
Kurfürstendamm 52, 10707 Berlin, Phone: 0049 (0)30 - 92 12 33 54,
E-Mail: info@carsharing.de, Internet: www.carsharing.de