Car sharing in the Ruhr area: Where is the progress?

Current evaluations show that the car sharing offers in the Ruhr area have considerable deficits compared to other regions of Germany. The responsible Federal Association has found that the demand for car sharing is growing nationwide, while the Ruhr area has some catching up to do in this area

car sharing enables several people to use a car without having to own a vehicle. Providers provide vehicles either at fixed locations or enable parking in a defined area. In Essen, where the car sharing offer is highest, 220 cars are currently available. Dortmund, on the other hand, only records 36 car sharing vehicles and in cities such as Oberhausen and Mülheim there are hardly any noteworthy offers.

Different offers in the Ruhr area

The variations in the car sharing offer in the cities are due to the information from the Federal Association of Carsharing (BCS) to a long period of time and urban funding, as well as the provision of parking spaces in public space. While the cities of Düsseldorf and Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia are among the few major cities that are placed nationwide among the top 20 car sharing cities, Dortmund is far behind with 0.06 car sharing vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants.

Despite a trend towards society, the market in the Ruhr area is growing rather slow. Greenwheels, a previously strong provider, left the market two years ago, and despite the efforts of providers such as Cambio and Stadtmobil, the gap was not filled quickly enough. Cologne has a total of 2,325 cars and Düsseldorf 1,472 vehicles on offer, while the car sharing in Dortmund lags far behind.

The continued increasing costs for purchase, insurance and repair of private vehicles contribute to increasing demand for car sharing. The Ruhr area has to make an effort to do justice to the nationwide trend.

Further information on the Carsharing offers in the Ruhr area can be found on Radio Mülheim and t-online.de .