The Transport Committee will tomorrow look at the health of the car sharing sectors in England, including different operating models such as car clubs, peer-to-peer car sharing and lift sharing.
Supporters of the different models say they offer flexible, cost-effective and environmentally friendly transport options, particularly in densely populated urban areas.
Car clubs are short-term car rental services that allow members access to locally parked cars and pay by the minute, hour or day. The 2024 annual report of CoMoUK, a charity that supports shared transport, and which is giving evidence in this session, says there are 873,499 car club subscribers in the UK, up from 353,726 in 2019.
Peer-to-peer services allow car owners to rent out their own cars via an online platform, in a similar style to Airbnb. It is unclear how widely they are used in the UK.
Another operating model is lift sharing, or carpooling. Typically for travel to one-off events or between people with similar commuting journeys, they can be organised informally between friends, via apps such as BlaBlaCar, GoCarShare or Liftshare, or more formally through workplace commuter schemes.
The cross-party Committee will question witnesses (full details below) on the potential benefits of different schemes – whether they reduce congestion, save on carbon emissions, and whether they can save people money.
MPs will also question the barriers to wider uptake of the schemes, such as insurance cover, operating costs, the availability of parking bays and charge points, and challenges around public perception.
Witnesses from 09:15
- Ali Clabburn, Founder and Chairman, Mobilityways and Liftshare
- Sam Dewhurst, Head of Sales, Hiyacar
- Richard Dilks, Chief Executive, CoMoUK
- James Taylor, General Manager, Zipcar UK
The evidence session, Car clubs and car sharing, takes place oñ Wednesday 3 September, 09:15, Committee Room 15, Palace of Westminster and you can watch live on ParliamentTV.
(Pic: Glasgow City Council)
