Ghent wins international car sharing award

The Belgian city almost tripled the number of car-sharers in just 5 years

Last week Ghent received an important recognition for its car-sharing promotion and support policies. During a digital event held on 28 May, the Belgian city won the Regional CSA Carsharing City Award beating Bremen, Bergen, Lisbon and Ljubljana.

Ghent - A model carshare city

The awards were given by Movmi and CSA, an international carsharing association, that promotes the benefits of car sharing. The winners were selected by a jury comprised of 6 members coming from different countries based on a carshare analysis with three components - Vision and Leadership, Policy Framework, Operational Ease and Resilience.

Ghent scored 5/5 in the first and last and 4/5 in the second indicator. Among the reasons for the high score of the Belgian city are the facts that its local government staff use carsharing vehicles for work-related travel and that it has adopted a Carshare Action Plan with clear metrics which wants a 10% share of the population to start using shared vehicles.

Also, shared cars can park for free in Ghent and have reserved parking places where drivers can pick up and return the cars. There are also places reserved for electric car-sharing at electric charging stations. In addition, the City of Ghent provides subsidies for the purchase of electric shared cars and assists in membership with a subsidy of 35 euros per new car dealer.

Today Ghent has nearly 14,000 car sharers which is a huge increase compared to 2015 when their number was just 4,000. The goal for 2025 is a total of 25,000 users.

“Car sharing … takes up less space, you don't have to worry about insurance or maintenance, and you are much more aware of car use. For people with a limited income, car sharing also offers access to a car without having to buy one yourself”, commented Alderman Filip Watteeuw, responsible for Mobility, quoted by the municipal website.

The top 5 in the category regional cities according to the 2020 Carshare City Awards Report includes the Slovenian capital Ljubljana, Bergen (Norway), Bremen (Germany) and the Portuguese capital Lisbon. Milan (Italy) was declared the winner among the Metropolitan cities, followed by Munich (Germany), Vancouver (Canada), Madrid and Paris (4^th place together) and Calgary (Canada).

Carsharing, explain the Awards’ organisers, has a positive impact on communities, as it leads to a reduced number of vehicles owned and fewer kilometres travelled.