Policymakers are trying to get citizens into electric cars with nice discounts. The end goal is of course to shoot as few dirty fumes into the air as possible. But what if all cars are shared cars and we make all other movements on foot, by bicycle or by public transport? An experiment by taxi company Uber called ‘One Less Car’ hopes to answer that.
To recruit participants, participants receive $1,000. In return, Uber wants you to leave your car where it is for five weeks. Uber is for a world in which we drive our cars less. The company calls it a ‘car-light lifestyle’. Incidentally, a taxi in which someone picks you up in their own car is not mentioned as one of the alternative means of transport. Quite special for a company that has grown big with this.
The experiment is currently only taking place in the United States and Canada and currently involves 175 people. The participants are asked to keep track of their travels and occasionally make a video of how they feel about their life without their own car. To cover travel expenses, the participants each receive 1,000 dollars (approximately 930 euros).
Second study by Uber into fewer private cars
The campaign in the United States and Canada is not the first experiment. The same program was rolled out in Australia last year. Then (only) 58 people participated. These participants indicated that the majority of car trips could be replaced. Would you participate if Uber also set up such a campaign in the Netherlands or Belgium?
