Car sharing on the rise
The use of car-sharing services in Wellington is accelerating and has the potential to decimate private ownership of vehicles, according to one industry player.
Wellington City Council has revealed the number of people making use of car-share vehicles in the capital has doubled in the past year to 33,000. It notes such services will likely play a key role in helping to decarbonise the city, reports Radio New Zealand (RNZ).
Mevo and CityHop, the two car-share providers in Wellington, have about 200 vehicles available to the public with costs ranging from $12 to $30 an hour.
Erik Zydervelt, Mevo’s chief executive, told RNZ more people were choosing access over ownership and the company’s own research suggests every time it put a new vehicle on the road, 10 private cars were sold or not purchased.
He claims city streets are filled with cars sitting in public spaces not being used for substantial periods, “whereas our cars are doing the work of 10”.
CityHop launched with three cars in Auckland in 2007 but says it had close to 50,000 members who completed 200,000 trips across New Zealand in 2022.
Car-sharing services now operate in a number of cities, including Auckland, Hamilton, Christchurch, Wellington, Dunedin, Invercargill, Queenstown and Wanaka.
