Carsharing in capital city: the attitude of Muscovites to new models of consumption of transport services

One of the important characteristics of the quality of life of population is transport provision. The problem of large cities that reduce the comfort of living is traffic jams. Struggling with them, the authorities of megacities impose restrictions on car owners—they organize paid parking, prohibit driving on allocated lanes, etc. One of the solutions to the described problem is the carsharing service of a minute-by-minute car rental, which allows residents of megacities to remain mobile and use the car only when it is necessary, while reducing the cost of its maintenance. The article presents results of the author’s sociological research conducted in 2019 and 2021 by the method of mass survey and focused group interviews in order to study the attitude of Muscovites to various forms of collaborated consumption, including the transport sector. According to the obtained data, the absolute majority of respondents have a good understanding of what carsharing is, the number of people who have personal experience of using carsharing is growing. Muscovites, who own private cars, also join the list of service users, since there is a number of situations in which carsharing opens up a range of additional economic and operational advantages for them. Based on the combinations of transport modes, regularly used by the respondents, a typologization of transport strategies was carried out. It includes 5 models: «inveterate car owner-motorist», «combined car owner-motorist», «active carsharing user», «situational–carsharing user», «social activist». The main drivers of carsharing usage are economic reasons (savings on the purchase and maintenance of a car, free parking, etc.), there are concerns about the potential costs in case of damage to the car and the technical condition of the rented car.

quality of life, transport provision, megapolis, metropolitan residents, economy of shared consumption, sharing economy, carsharing