Car-Sharing as an Environmental Policy Tool: A Preliminary Analysis
Chrysa Agapitou, Eleni Deftou, Chrysoula Frantzi, Maria Stamatopoulou, Dimitrios Georgakellos

Abstract
In recent years, energy prices have become increasingly more expensive. This trend has added to auto ownership costs and uncertainty about future operating expenses. Furthermore, parking in many of the world’s largest cities is limited and costly further adding to private vehicle expenditures. Many nations worldwide have adopted car-sharing (or short-term auto access) as a mean of reducing personal transportation cost and the negative impacts of wide spread auto use (congestion, inefficient land use, energy consumption and emissions). The objective of this paper is to present the notion of car-sharing. Therefore, it begins with the definition, the function and the pricing policy of car-sharing. Then, the history and growth of car-sharing are presented. Additionally, advantages and disadvantages of this alternative choice of mobility are analyzed. Finally, the implementation of car-sharing in different continents is mentioned and a number of ways that could improve the effectiveness of car-sharing are proposed.

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