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I wonder whether those urban car-sharing schemes have quite low utilisation rates overall, so have relatively high prices to attempt some semblance of a busines
by mft_ 7y ago
I wonder whether those urban car-sharing schemes have quite low utilisation rates overall, so have relatively high prices to attempt some semblance of a business model?
Two data points which might support this:
1. Consolidation. Drive Now and Car2Go (two big players) are merging.
2. ‘Traditional’ car hire can be way cheaper - we recently had a decent car for (an almost unbelievable) ~€10/day while on holiday. Now I know that we might be comparing apples with oranges here, with the car sharing companies already including features which you pay extra for with the traditional car hire, and of course there are differences in convenience... but that’s still a huge price delta.
- noizejoy 7y agoActually the business model seems very much in question, judging by the fact that Share Now, formerly Car2Go, is leaving North America [1] [1] https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/18/21028517/sharenow-car2go-leaving-north-america-bmw-daimler-cities-date https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/18/21028517/sharenow-car2go...
- netsharc 7y agoThere's a study that said people thought these car sharers would mean people would own fewer cars, but instead many car owning families used them as 2nd cars (I suppose that's better than having 2 cars per family). I lived in a Drive Now city and used them a few times a month when I thought "I'm too lazy to walk to the subway and wait, and then walk home from the subway/it's too late and the subway is 15 minutes wait", without owning my own car. It would cost maybe 5 Euro to drive home.
- csunbird 7y agoThey are supposed to be a cab replacement, not a personal car replacement. Since they are much cheaper than cabs, it makes sense to drive instead if you have a driving license. When you can lease a car for 200 EUR per month, it does not make sense to use these services for daily use.