Wednesday, March 02, 2011

The latest numbers — 7,776 carsharing vehicles in North America

This just in from Adam Cohen at the UC Berkeley Innovative Mobility Center.  As of January 2011:

  • In the US: 27 carsharing programs claimed 518,520 members sharing 7,776 vehicles.

  • In Canada:  17 carsharing organizations claimed 85,439 members sharing 2,342 vehicles.

During the past year there's been almost no growth in the US carsharing fleet - according to the IMC industry survey, there were 7588 in January 2010 but the the reported membership grew from 388,089 - an increase of 33%.   This means that one of the key metrics driving vehicle use - the member to vehicle ratio - grew from 51:1 to 66:1.  Although IMC doesn't report individual carshare performance, Zipcar is the dominant influence on these numbers.

In Canada during the past year there was slight growth in fleet numbers - up 199 vehicles.  Membership grew by 37% up from 61,944 in Jan. 2010 and member to vehicle ratios increased from 29:1 to 36:1 - no doubt improving the financial position of Canadian operators. 

Looking back a little earlier, there been a 33% in US carsharing vehicles since July 2008, and a 40% increase of the carsharing fleet in Canada.   

I'll be posting some numbers from Germany shortly.