RP2021u2: Shifting from Entrenched Car Ownership to Car Usership

On a per capita basis, car ownership continues to rise from 153 passenger vehicles per 1,000 people in Australia in 1995 to 740 per 1000 people today. These high levels of ownership and exclusive car usage occur against the backdrop of a growing share economy with new transport operators such as BlaBlaCar, GoGet, Lyft, Uber and a myriad of share bike schemes entering the market. Car ownership clearly remains a deeply ingrained part of Australian society, locking consumers into high carbon emission mobility habits. A high 80% want to own their own car and have exclusive access. Worryingly this is highest amongst younger people.

Private ownership, and the limited capital available for many consumers, means that the Australian private car fleet is highly polluting, whilst alternative shared ownership structures allow higher value and lower polluting models to be utilised.  For example, higher cost hybrid and electric vehicles may find a quicker pathway to the market through shared ownership structures.

Awareness of alternative mobility arrangements including: vehicle subscription services; carpooling/ride sharing; and peer-to-peer car sharing is not the barrier as these are currently high. Yet the car subscription models, designed to appeal to a consumer that is used to customised, on-demand services, remain a small portion of the overall market.  Better understanding is needed of why people feel the need to own a car and how they can be encouraged to transition from an exclusive ownership model to ones of temporary and/or multiple ownership and/or shared usership. This project investigates this issue with the goal of identifying pathways to lower carbon mobility.

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RP2021u2: Shifting from Car Ownership to Car Usership - Final Report

This research takes a in-depth look at the relationship people have with cars and their willingness to move away from a relationship of personal ownership. The research involved respondents across a range of car ownership situations including:

• Car owners who do not use other transport
• Car owners who sometimes use other transport but who still rely heavily on their cars
• Car owners who recently started using other transport
• People who have moved away from car ownership.

The research consisted of ten depth interviews with respondents purposively chosen to fit a range of car ownership and usage scenarios. Interviews were conducted across May and June 2019, in South Australia where there is high ownership and usage of private vehicles.

RP2021u2: Shifting from Car Ownership to Car Usership - Final Report (937451 PDF)