As traditional automakers scramble to purchase ride-hailing and car-sharing services, a new study implies that they’re probably going to end up cannibalizing their own customers.
The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) surveyed a lot more than 4,500 users of shared mobility in seven U.S. cities and located that people who use services like Uber, Lyft and Zipcar are significantly less likely to buy a car and, if they do, have a tendency to own fewer cars than those that do not.
David Plouffe, chief advisor at Uber Technologies Inc., said the most known alternation in habits is among younger people who just don’t put the same importance on owning a car his or her parents did.
“When I had been 15 or 16, your whole life revolved around saving money to purchase an automobile, your entire social life revolved around the car,” Plouffe, who also managed Barack Obama’s 2008 election campaign, told a press briefing Tuesday.
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“That is changing. Young adults want to reside in cities in a pace and rate we’ve never witnessed before as well as their inclination is, if you make it easy to allow them to circumvent the city, they’d prefer not to purchase cars.”
This is reflected in the data in the APTA survey. When asked how their finances had changed since they started using shared types of transportation, 20 per cent of respondents said they postponed buying a car, 18 percent decided not to purchase one whatsoever, and 21 percent sold their car and didn’t replace it.
In addition, laptop computer discovered that people who use shared modes of transportation own an average of 1.05 cars per household versus 1.5 cars for those who don’t. “Supersharers,” defined as people who routinely use several shared modes of transportation – including bike-sharing, car-sharing services like Zipcar, and ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft – own typically just 0.72 cars per household.
Despite the survey’s findings, United states auto sales have shown no sign of reducing yet. U.S. vehicle sales hit an archive high of 17.5 million in 2015, while Canadian auto sales rose to a third consecutive record of just one.9 million.
“All in our services need to band together, we’re allies,” Emily Castor, director of transportation at Lyft Inc., told the press briefing.
“Together we can possess a catalytic impact for making it feasible for individuals to not need to own cars. – When you reach that tipping point of 3 or more shared modes that someone uses, that’s when they eliminate the vehicle, and that’s the robust ecosystem that’s starting how to develop in main cities.”
It’s also an ecosystem that automakers are jostling to get involved with, despite fears that it could eat into their main business of selling cars.
General Motors Co. invested US$500 million in Lyft earlier this year and announced Tuesday that it’ll book cars to Lyft drivers for US$99 each week. When the driver gives 65 or even more rides per week, the rental is free of charge.
Last week, Ford Motor Co. said hello intends to establish a subsidiary in Palo Alto, Calif., which will focus on developing new forms of mobility including car-sharing and ride-hailing services.
BMW AG, meanwhile, can also be reportedly considering expanding its car-sharing service to provide a ride-hailing service, based on Germany’s Spiegel Online.
