Abstract

high dependence on cars characterizes rural regions when it comes to everyday travel. Community-based carsharing offers a solution for places where commercial operators of sharing systems are not present. However, people not able or willing to drive a car on their own are still dependent on poor public transport or close persons giving them a lift. Integrating community-based carsharing and spontaneous, short-distance ridesharing could offer a solution for this challenge. A quantitative online-based survey conducted among members of carsharing communities in Austria and Germany reveals user characteristics and potentials. This paper presents personal and household characteristics of members and their influence on (1) motives to participate in carsharing, (2) usage of shared cars and travel behaviour and (3) attitudes towards ridesharing and preferences regarding the arrangement, realization and different conditions of the ride (e. g. time of the day, requested detour). Finally, we identify needs for future research in this field.

Abstract

Motivity and health are key prerequisites for safe, independent and injury-free mobility and, subsequently, basic conditions for well-being and social participation in advanced years. To address the importance of active mobility with increasing age, the project “Pimp your Skills”, funded by the Austrian Road Safety Fund, was carried out (Eichhorn et al., 2016). The project aimed at identifying factors relating to mobility behaviour as well as the underlying motives behind such behaviour by means of a population survey. The theory of planned behaviour was used to explain non-motorised mobility behaviour for the target group, namely the current elderly (65+ years of age) as well as the future elderly (50+ years of age). The determining factors for walking and cycling were examined, and regression analyses carried out. The results show that meaningful relationships between behavioural beliefs, perceived skills, habits and subjective norms could be established for cycling and walking behaviour.