Brussels, 31/01/2005 (Agence Europe) - After three years of experiments in several pilot towns of the EU, the results of the MOSES project, the aim of which was to promote “Car-Sharing” throughout Europe, were presented in Brussels last Thursday and Friday. Despite the undeniable economic and environmental benefits, this practice is still struggling to take root in the EU, despite a slight upturn in recent years. For this reason, its supporters put forward various marketing strategies and plead for Car-Sharing to be taken into account more at all political levels.
The MOSES project, which was launched in 2002, aimed to identify the obstacles to more widespread Car-Sharing in Europe, which is a car-hire service via Internet or telephone, and look into actions to develop it (EUROPE of 4 February 2003). An initial observation made by those involved is that citizens are unaware of the service, even in countries where it has been practised for years, such as Germany and Switzerland. Their recommendation to remedy this is “more information and marketing action”. Whilst reiterating that this kind of service can only develop in cities with “good public transport infrastructure”, they recommend that more stations be reserved for “Car-Sharing”. According to the International Union of Public Transport (IUTP), there are currently twelve stations of this kind in Brussels. Furthermore, as Car Sharers often use public transport, financial incentives are recommended, such as annual public transport passes.
Alongside these actions, those behind MOSES recommend that Car-Sharing be integrated into urban transport policies at local level, the implementation of support programmes nationally, information and best-practice sharing at European level, especially in the ten new Member States, and demonstration and research activities on Car-Sharing.