The second STARS project meeting took place in Ghent (Belgium) from 19-20 March. After 6 months, it was a good opportunity for partners to meet and share the first results of the research activities performed on car sharing in Europe. Autodelen, the Flemish car sharing network, presented their results on car sharing typologies and practices in Europe (Work package 2, Deliverable 2.1).
As part of this research, they identified 6 potential car sharing organisation profiles. Having a clear picture of the current state of car sharing in Europe is the starting point of the STARS-project. At this stage, we can say that “multidimensional” represents the main characteristic of the European car sharing market.
During this second plenary meeting, Peter Wells, Professor of Business and Sustainability at the Centre for Automotive Industry Research (Cardiff Business School) also presented the work done by the team involved in Work package 3. Thus, their initial results highlighted 5 different car sharing business models.
Partners also discussed the activities to come, in particular the project’s participation in upcoming international and European conferences and events.
Coordinated by Marco Diana, Associate Professor at Politecnico di Torino (Italy), STARS gathers 9 partners: three universities, one car sharing platform, one car sharing industry association, one car manufacturer, one European city, one international organisation specialised in the implementation of sustainable development at the local level, and one SME.
Funded by the European Commission and standing for ‘Shared mobility opporTunities And challenges foR European citieS”, STARS brings together experts from the transport engineering, environmental psychology, and industrial economics fields.
During 30 months, STARS partners will adopt a co-modality approach, considering the real effects of car sharing on other travel modes, the (new) travel demand, and the mobility needs of European citizens. The new aspect of STARS lies in the studies on the implications and impacts of car sharing, rather than on the implementation of the system itself, as it has been done before.
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