Car sharing as a solution to urban mobility problems in india

Abstract

Urban commuters are faced with diverse problems ranging from traffic jams, parking congestions, ownership responsibilities of vehicles etc. Urban mobility is in need of means that address the contemporary problems of the commuters and provide ubiquitous accessibility. This is the reason behind the success of car aggregators in urban regions of India. Car-sharing is an alternative to personal vehicle ownership. Car-sharing refers to accessing a car for money typically with the help of an online application. Car sharing provides an experience of enjoying all the benefits of a car without ownership responsibilities. Although there are many car-sharing providers around the world but remarkably car manufacturing companies like BMW, Ford, GM and others have also launched car sharing programs. This study is restricted to the car sharing programs launched by car manufacturing companies. Though such car sharing facilities by car manufacturing companies are not yet available in India yet this study attempts to identify its preference among the urban masses. The emergence of a few car sharing providers in India has been witnessed but the operational models are usually restricted to round trips. Many car manufacturing companies are using innovative car-sharing models like peer-to-peer model and fractional model which has enhanced accessibility and convenience. Our study provides a comprehensive understanding of the perceptions towards car sharing and its features in relation to the contemporary problems faced by commuters in Delhi NCR (India). The study also provides cluster level analysis based on the problems faced by commuters in order to map them to the solutions presented by existing and innovative transportation models. The findings of the study reveal that a huge majority of the commuters feel that Car Sharing Program could be an appropriate and better solution to the mobility problems. Moreover, a majority of them (62%) tend to prefer car sharing over online ride sharing cabs (like Uber). Notably, a majority (68.6%) of the respondents who usually commute through these online app based ride sharing cabs display preference for car sharing. This provides a plausible prognosis that car sharing models have a potential to capture a sizeable portion of the market from existing car aggregators (which is in accordance with the findings of Bert et al., 2016). Future research in this area could focus on the current trends related to existing car sharing models operating in India and its future. Also, any transition with regard to the perception of ownership of vehicles can also be taken up for further research