Thanks to car sharing, 6 out of 10 users have given up their car.

The study reveals that car-sharing is no longer a niche service: it has become an essential tool for reducing car ownership, including for families. Without these services, the vast majority of users state that they would have no other choice but to buy a personal vehicle.

By complementing the public transport offer, car-sharing allows for a massive reduction in the number of cars in the city. The study shows that nearly 60% of Cambio users and 40% of Poppy users have reduced the number of cars in their household since joining. Among users combining both services, this proportion reaches 64%, with nearly 6 out of 10 having completely given up owning a car. Additionally, if car-sharing did not exist in Brussels, 63% of Cambio users and 70% of Poppy users state that they would (re)purchase a personal vehicle. Even more impressively, this figure rises to 76% for users combining both services.

The two car-sharing models play a complementary role

• Station-based car-sharing (like Cambio) permanently replaces private cars by attracting households already committed to a logic of giving up their car
• Free-floating car-sharing (like Poppy) attracts a younger audience and prevents the future purchase of a car for many Brussels residents.

The combination of the two models proves to be the most effective in limiting car ownership. Each service corresponding better to certain uses.

Car-sharing users are distinguished by their strong multimodality:

• 70% of Cambio users and 65% of Poppy users have a public transport subscription;
• a majority report using bicycles more since they adopted car-sharing;
• and more than one in two have reduced their use of personal cars.

These behaviors reflect a shift towards integrated urban mobility, where shared cars are an attractive option among other mobility services.

The survey challenges the received idea that car sharing is reserved for urban singles. One third (33%) of users are households with children. Even though there remains a challenge for families with young children due to the logistics related to child seats (see below),... The survey proves that multimodality (combining bicycle, public transport and car sharing depending on needs and usage) is a viable solution already chosen today by many Brussels families, who no longer feel "obliged" to own their own vehicle, whether out of conviction, for reasons of convenience or economic reasons.

Here are the main developments desired and expected by users:

• Fleet diversity: offer more utility vehicles (for moving or bulky purchases) and higher capacity vehicles (7 seats, PRM).
• Equipment: make equipment available to facilitate leisure and family life (various child seats, bike racks, trailer hitches).
• Integration: be able to use the Mobib card as a universal key to access vehicles. Even if integration into Mobib is technically unlikely, the integration of car-sharing services is already happening in Floya, the multimodal application of the Brussels-Capital Region.

By highlighting the real effects of car-sharing on car ownership and travel practices, this survey provides valuable insight for public action. It shows that well-regulated and complementary services can support the transition in a gradual, pragmatic, and socially acceptable manner.