Car Sharing in Wellington, New Zealand: Benefits and Barriers
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Car sharing in Wellington, New Zealand: benefits and barriers Lucia Sobiecki A thesis submitted to Victoria University of Wellington in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master’s in Environmental Studies School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences Victoria University of Wellington June 2017 Abstract Sprawling urban development and high levels of car dependency in New Zealand have resulted in a range of adverse impacts, including increased greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. Car sharing can support compact development and sustainable transport patterns by providing a potential alternative to car ownership. Despite the increasing popularity of car sharing overseas, it is still in the early stages of development in New Zealand. There is a growing body of international literature about car sharing; however, very little has been written about car sharing in the New Zealand context. This thesis contributes to the literature by exploring car sharing in Wellington. This study has adopted a mixed method approach, surveying Wellington residents about car sharing and interviewing car share stakeholders. The findings from this research indicate that car sharing is a transport innovation which offers Wellington significant benefits. Perhaps most importantly, car sharing can reduce car ownership and usage, which in turn can help reduce congestion, demand for parking and greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, this study provides evidence that the people most interested in car sharing in Wellington have similar characteristics to car share members overseas. This includes younger people, apartment dwellers, households without children, and people who use a car occasionally but do not necessarily own one. This thesis also highlights that car sharing is complementary to alternative modes of transport, and underlines the close connection between car sharing and modern technologies such as automated booking. The findings from this research indicate that car share providers face a range of barriers, including access to public parking and financial assistance. Progress has already been made to remove barriers facing car sharing but more support for car sharing could allow Wellington to take full advantage of its benefits. Key words: compact development; sustainable transport; car sharing; benefits; barriers; Wellington; New Zealand; mixed methods i Acknowledgements First of all, thank you to all the survey and interview participants for taking the time to contribute to my research. This research would not have been possible without your help. My Master’s thesis was funded through a scholarship from the New Zealand Centre for Sustainable Cities Resilient Urban Futures Programme, which is funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment. I am very grateful for this assistance. I cannot thank my supervisor Ralph Chapman enough. I could not have written this thesis without your guidance. Your advice and support has been invaluable. I have come a long way since I started this Master’s programme, and I am very grateful for the opportunities you have given me and the difficulties you have helped me overcome. To all my friends and fellow postgrads, thank you for your constant encouragement and understanding. This year would have been much harder without your kindness and humour. Special thanks to Rebecca Nuttall for proofing my thesis and for being a wonderful friend and flatmate throughout the course of this study. To my parents, you have always inspired me to work hard and educate myself. Thank you for trusting my decisions and never doubting my ability. I am blessed to be your daughter. Finally, to my partner Andy. Every day you have supported me without fail, protecting both my sanity and happiness. Thank you for all your help and for making me feel like I was never on this journey alone. iii Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................. i Acknowledgements .................................................................................... iii List of figures ............................................................................................... vii List of tables ................................................................................................... ix List of boxes..................................................................................................... x Chapter 1 Introduction ............................................................................... 1 Chapter 2 Literature review ..................................................................... 5 2.1. What is car sharing? ............................................................. 5 2.2. Car sharing overview ........................................................ 11 2.3. The benefits of car sharing ............................................. 13 2.4. Who uses car sharing? ...................................................... 19 2.5. Car sharing and compact living ..................................... 20 2.6. Car sharing and sustainable transport ....................... 22 2.7. Car sharing and modern technologies ....................... 25 2.8. The barriers facing car sharing ..................................... 26 2.9. Summary ................................................................................ 28 Chapter 3 Study context .......................................................................... 29 3.1. Auckland and Wellington ................................................ 29 3.2. Car share policies in New Zealand ............................... 32 3.3. Car share providers in New Zealand ........................... 33 3.4. New Zealand car share research .................................. 35 3.5. Summary ................................................................................ 36 Chapter 4 Research gap and study framework .............................. 37 Chapter 5 Research aim and questions ............................................. 40 Chapter 6 Methodology ........................................................................... 41 6.1. Research worldview .......................................................... 41 6.2. Research design .................................................................. 41 6.3. Research methods .............................................................. 42 6.4. Data collection limitations .............................................. 51 6.5. Summary ................................................................................ 52 Chapter 7 Results ....................................................................................... 53 7.1. Survey sample characteristics ....................................... 54 7.2. Research question 1 .......................................................... 58 7.3. Research question 2 ........................................................105 7.4. Summary ..............................................................................122 v Chapter 8 Discussion and conclusion .............................................. 125 8.1. Research question 1 ....................................................... 125 8.2. Research question 2 ....................................................... 135 8.3. Strengths, limitations and future research ............ 138 8.4. Conclusion .......................................................................... 140 References .................................................................................................. 143 Appendices ................................................................................................ 151 Appendix A Ethics approval letter ...................................... 151 Appendix B Online survey ...................................................... 152 Appendix C Interview forms ................................................. 163 Appendix D Thematic maps ................................................... 167 Appendix E Multinomial regression analysis ................. 169 Appendix F Full Metlink fare zone map ............................ 175 vi List of figures Figure 2.1. Neighbourhood car sharing (adapted from Barth and Shaheen (2002), Figure 1, p. 106). ................................. 8 Figure 2.2. Station based car sharing (adapted from Barth and Shaheen (2002), Figure 2, p. 107). .......................................... 8 Figure 2.3. Point-to-point car sharing (adapted from Barth and Shaheen (2002), Figure 3, p. 107). ....................................... 10 Figure 2.4. Car sharing’s role in the transport system based on flexibility and distance (adapted from Britton (1999), Figure i, p. 9). ................................................................ 23 Figure 2.5. Car sharing’s role in the transport network based on access and privacy values (adapted from Nawangpalupi and Demirbilek (2008), Figure 1, p. 3). .................................................................................................. 24 Figure 3.1. Number of vehicles per household on census day 2013 .................................................................................................. 31 Figure 3.2. Mode of transport for travel to work on census day 2013 .................................................................................................. 32 Figure 4.1. Study framework ......................................................................... 39 Figure 6.1. Phases of thematic analysis (adapted from Braun and Clark (2006),