Factors affecting the adoption of vehicle sharing systems by young drivers

Transportation patterns in big cities are redefined by the growing trend of car ownership and usage costs (e.g. the initial cost of buying a car, the constantly growing fuel prices, additional maintenance and insurance costs and the increased parking demand and time of travel). Under these circumstances, the demand for alternative vehicle-sharing transportation modes, such as carsharing or bikesharing, increases. Companies and authorities planning to develop such schemes need to know the factors driving their adoption, so that they can optimally position these services in a cost-effective way that will maximize their use. In this paper, the results of an on-line survey that was conducted in Greece, a country where carsharing is effectively non-existent and bikesharing is just emerging, are presented and analyzed. Given the nature of the survey and the fact that younger people are the most likely target audience for these services, the analysis focuses on data from the age group 18–35 years old.