Přehled o publikaci

Car sharing is a transport mode known for decades. In some Western European countries it has hundreds of thousands users. However, it has not found greater popularity in the Czech Republic until 2010s; the number of users in this period was less than 100 and only one car sharing association survived in the long term horizon. In contrast, during the last five years car sharing gains hundreds of new users and several new associations has been founded. The main factor that attracts new users is widespread adoption of smartphones and opportunity to book the car in just a few clicks. The article discusses results of two large socio-geographical surveys, which were conducted on the territory of the Czech Republic in 2012 and 2015, and adds insights obtained from supplementary qualitative research. Key findings include the fact that, thanks to the technological revolution connected with the widespread using of smartphones among population, people's attitudes to car sharing are changing significantly. The share of people who reported that car sharing can be very useful for them and they would certainly use it if it was available in their place of residence, increased from 4.1% to 8.9%. Moreover, the biggest change in attitude is visible in changing perceptions of car sharing service: while in 2012 people tended to believe that "it is still better to own a car, because the use of car sharing reservation system is not comfortable", in 2015 people are delighted how simple and flexible is using of smartphone booking applications. In addition, the ease of use of car sharing services is appreciated also by people who reported that they need to own car for everyday use. These people would welcome the possibility of short-term rental of cars (which should be easily covered by car sharing) in a location where they spend their holidays.