The popularity of car sharing services has been slowly growing in Australia and around the world over the last decade. While many choose to share their car with family and friends, there’s been a rapid increase in the number of car-sharing services available, many of which may have done partnerships with your local council.
Car sharing allows you to rent a vehicle for as little as an hour and pick it up from numerous locations nearby. Many services also offer vans and utes which are perfect solutions for moving house or large furniture that doesn't quite fit in your own car.
But which cities have the best access to car sharing?
A study by UK comparison site Confused.com analysed global cities on factors such as the number of car sharing companies operating, the average cost per hour, the percentage of adults who own a car (to indicate that cars are the preferred mode of transport) and the population density (to indicate more potential car sharers).
Rank | City | Car share companies | Car ownership rate | Population density (per km²) | Average cost per hour (Local currency) | Car sharing score /10 |
1 | Paris, France | 6 | 65% | 20,506 | €9.15 | 7.43 |
2 | London, UK | 7 | 56% | 7,020 | £7.79 | 6.84 |
3 | Singapore | 7 | 11% | 8,076 | S$8.61 | 6.69 |
3 | Melbourne, Australia | 5 | 87% | 1,665 | $8.40 | 6.69 |
5 | Madrid, Spain | 6 | 52% | 5,457 | €8.63 | 6.40 |
5 | Munich, Germany | 5 | 55% | 4,788 | €7.10 | 6.40 |
7 | Amsterdam, Netherlands | 7 | 25% | 6,727 | €8.61 | 6.10 |
8 | Sydney, Australia | 5 | 56% | 2,163 | $8.07 | 6.03 |
9 | Milan, Italy | 6 | 52% | 7,549 | €10.73 | 5.96 |
10 | Prague, Czech Republic | 3 | 87% | 2,623 | 149.00 Kc | 5.59 |
The best city for car sharing in the world is the French capital of Paris with a car sharing score of 7.43 out of 10. Paris has six different car sharing companies and also has the highest population density on this list, at 20,506 people per km². The average cost of an hour’s rental with these companies is €9.15 ($14.16 AUD).
The second-best city was London with a car-sharing score of 6.84 out of 10 while Melbourne shares third place on the ranking with Singapore with a car sharing score of 6.69 out of 10. Interestingly, Singapore has a lower car ownership rate of 11% whereas Melbourne has a rate of 87%.
Sydney also made the top 10 list coming in 8th place with a car-sharing score of 6.03 out of 10. The city has five operating car-sharing companies like Melbourne and an average hourly cost of $8.07.