More than 20,000 Dutch use the approximately 1100 cars, companies such as GreenWheels and ConnectCar issue for sharing. Last year the line grew according to the association for shared Car Use with approximately 45 percent.
Especially in the large cities there is an increase in the popularity of the car. “We have many lawyers in our customer files”, thus general director Hemmie Kerklingh of ConnectCar. “They know that they can have a car with a lot of benefits. And they have no high parking costs anymore”.
The cars can be parked on fixed reserved parking places in a large number of cities. Customers can reserve a car 24 hours per day without much effort by means of Internet or telephone. The large companies issue chip cards, with which a reserved car can be opened. After the ride a board computer registers the kilometers driven and the number of hours the car has been used. Season-ticket holders can get an overview, by means of Internet or by monthly overviews, of which amount they will be charged with.
GreenWheels and good number two ConnectCar , both offer monthly subscriptions with prices which vary of 0 up to 50 euro per month. Both companies use small, low-energy cars, though there are also differences. GreenWheels, which introduced the shared car in 1995 in the Netherlands, uses red Peugeots 107 with a green logo, wich are provided with a simple car radio. The company asks a guarantee of 225 euro. Regular customers of the NS (Dutch Railways) get a discount on a subscription. ConnectCar which started four years ago, does not charge any guarantee, has silver-gray cars with car radio and cd-player and issues subscriptions to all drivers license holders, irrespective of the age. “With that we distinguish ourselves of our competitors”, said Kerklingh. “GreenWheels uses for example an age border of 24 years”.
The association for shared car use, conducted a recent investigation to the impact of sharing cars in the inner-city of Amsterdam. From that, it appears that the park honouring jolt decreases and that car users drive 12 percent less kilometres with the car than people that own a car. Using shared cars also reduces the emission of greenhouse gasses and it has an increasing effect on use of bicycles and public transport. The association pleads in a letter to environment minister Jacqueline Cramer for stimulating the car in businesses. Kerklingh also finds that the government can do more stimulation of using shared cars. That is rapidly necessary to make the matter profitable. We invested the previous years strongly, and expect next year to have the break-even point. The director of ConnectCar foresees a golden future for the car just like the trade association, but is not blind for threats. There are environment advantages and its cheaper than the possession of a car, but that does not pursuade everyone. A lot of people take their own car nevertheless.
Well, personally I am not keen on using a Peugeot 107, since I won't fit in the car. When there will be a service issuing Toyota Prius, count me in ;)
Cheers,
Roel
Victoria Car Share Co-Op. An initiative of people themselves.
A small video about happy people using shared cars
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More than 20,000 Dutch use the approximately 1100 cars, companies such as GreenWheels and ConnectCar issue for sharing. Last year the line grew according to the association for shared Car Use with approximately 45 percent.
