Usage patterns and preferences of car sharing: A case study of Dublin

Abstract

The popularity of mobility sharing services are growing rapidly around the world. Car, bike and scooter sharing services and movements towards the Mobility as a Service (MaaS) model have all shown the potential in these services to change how we think about mobility. The research presented in this paper examines the usage of a car sharing service in Dublin, Ireland. The research is divided into two parts, an analysis of booking data and a survey of Yuko’s members. A 22-month sample size from January 2017 to October 2018 (660 days) of data contains 7,944 individual car bookings from 1,446 accounts containing 2,006 individual users. A survey was also conducted of over 400 Yuko users to determine how users perceived the service and how and if using this service changed their mobility patterns. A cluster analysis was conducted on this survey data that identified to specific groups, which were mainly defined by their car ownership status.

The research shows the more trips a user makes, the more likely they are to take quicker and shorter trips. Whereas those who rarely make a booking, make a longer journey when they do so. Some of the other findings were that users are generally young males, bookings tend to be much longer on the weekends and the majority of members do not currently own a car. It was found that members don’t use car sharing as a means of commuting, but as a way to get around for a variety of reasons outside of their regular commute. The findings of the paper show that only a small number of users had sold their car since joining the service, mainly because they did not own one to begin with.