THE CAR SHARING POLICY IN THE NETHERLANDS: MARKET INCENTIVES FOR SERVICE ARRANGEMENTS THAT ENCOURAGE SELECTIVE CAR USE

Since the late 1970s, Dutch transport policy has been attempting to reduce the use of cars. The key concept is selective car use, encouraging people to use their cars only when necessary, but the average annual distance driven has remained near 15,000km per year for over 20 years. The concept of car sharing has been introduced as a possible way of using a car without the need to own a car. This paper explains how the Dutch Government has introduced the concept of car sharing, and what strategies are being followed to initiate national and local car sharing services. One of the principles of their approach is an open market policy. The successive stages of the policies have been: (1) feasibility study; (2) encouraging private initiatives, such as that in the city of Leiden; (3) providing market incentives, by stimulating local authorities to gather partners interested in setting up local car sharing services; (4) promoting consumer interest in car sharing; and (5) self-regulated development of car sharing, by introducing different kinds of service arrangements to meet different types of demand for car mobility. For the covering abstract, see IRRD 889150.