Examining the process of carsharing adoption in the Netherlands: roles of car ownership, motivations, barriers and mobility habits at different transition points

Abstract

The adoption of carsharing is considered as a dynamic process with multiple stages rather than a static representation. Research on factors influencing the stages and transitions between different stages is limited. This study aims to explore how socioeconomic status, car ownership, attitudes, motivations, barriers and mobility habits influence how individuals transition between different stages in carsharing adoption process. Based on data collected in neighborhoods with a high carsharing prevalence in Utrecht, the Netherlands, our results suggest that between different adoption stages, sociodemographic variables play an effect and some of effects generally follow the kind of early-adopter profile found in earlier studies. The results also suggest that current car ownership inhibits the carsharing adoption at all stages to varying degrees, while past changes and expected changes in future play different roles at different transition points. There are different motivations, barrier and mobility habits explicitly related to adoption at different transition points.