Abstract

high dependence on cars characterizes rural regions when it comes to everyday travel. Community-based carsharing offers a solution for places where commercial operators of sharing systems are not present. However, people not able or willing to drive a car on their own are still dependent on poor public transport or close persons giving them a lift. Integrating community-based carsharing and spontaneous, short-distance ridesharing could offer a solution for this challenge. A quantitative online-based survey conducted among members of carsharing communities in Austria and Germany reveals user characteristics and potentials. This paper presents personal and household characteristics of members and their influence on (1) motives to participate in carsharing, (2) usage of shared cars and travel behaviour and (3) attitudes towards ridesharing and preferences regarding the arrangement, realization and different conditions of the ride (e. g. time of the day, requested detour). Finally, we identify needs for future research in this field.