Capacity Building of Municipalities to Support Faster Implementation of Car Sharing 

The Commission supported the development of three toolkits for 30+ municipalities to further boost car sharing. Firstly, a knowledge toolkit explaining the “why” of developing car sharing (notably economic and environmental benefits). Secondly, a policy toolkit explaining the ‘how’ of developing car sharing (regulatory and administrative and other barriers to be addressed at local level). Thirdly, a communication toolkit presenting strategies and tactics to make potential car sharing users change their mobility habits.

After the development of the tools, there were training sessions with the municipalities to tailor their own strategies.  

Context 

Car ownership in the Netherlands grew to a record high in 2019 to 8.5 million cars of which 88% is privately owned.  Due to this growth, public space, accessibility and the liveability (air quality, CO₂ emissions and noise) of cities is increasingly under pressure. This problem is set to increase as the number of Dutch inhabitants is expected to grow by approx. 1 million over the next decade. Due to the fact that current levels of car ownership per capita (approx. 0,5), it is expected/ anticipated that this will lead to at least 500.000 extra cars. 

Recently, the Netherlands has received criticism for how it is handling the difficulties regarding the control in over CO₂ emissions around its major conurbations.  

Increasing the use of car sharing as well as speeding up the electrification of the car fleet are considered as two important factors.

Municipalities are key enablers of electric car sharing. They need to implement new policies and regulations, as well as remove barriers that prevent further advancement in car sharing.

However, key enablers are often underinformed and lack the tools to set clear uniform goals and policies to support the ongoing transition to car sharing.   

Support delivered 

The providers have developed  three toolkits in close co-operation with the lead Ministry (the Ministry of Infrastructure and water management),as well as several partner Ministries and stakeholders, who cooperate in a large existing network of 60+ partners on shared mobility and car sharing. This also included the municipalities as well as the car-sharing providers, i.e. the companies deploying car-sharing fleets in municipalities. 

Once these tools were developed, dedicated seminars were then organised with the municipalities to speed up the implementation of car sharing policies in these municipalities.  

Results achieved 

Three digitally easy-to-use toolkits were developed and made available for all 352 Dutch municipalities. Thirty Dutch municipalities were supported to develop their car sharing policies with an action plan and a supporting communication strategy. The leading Dutch national policies makers have an increased awareness of the gaps in local policy design and delivery as well as a better understanding of possible solutions to reduce gaps and streamline car-sharing policies.

One of the main difficulties in the Netherlands is that the country is densely populated and lacks space. This is an issue for car sharing as there needs to be additional parking space for electrical shared cars and more charging stations are required.

This could be the reason why policy has been very effective in increasing users. However, this has not been the case in terms of the number of shared-cars.

For this policy to succeed, it is believed that it needs to be developed alongside integrated urban space planning to create more physical space,  so that an effective policy on car-sharing can be implemented.