Australia’s largest neighbour-to-neighbour car-sharing company is pleading to its 180,000 members not to ‘car hoard’ as many bookings are now taken for extended periods of time – some for more than a month, leaving other members to scramble for alternative transport.
This is particularly an issue in the biggest cities, and also coronavirus hotspots, where tens of thousands of Australians live completely car-free and are now largely avoiding public transport.
Will Davies, CEO and co-founder of Car Next Door reminds his members to think of others who are relying on the shared vehicles.
“Now, more than ever, people need access to cars to do essential errands like buying food and supplies. Many who live in the big urban centres don’t own a car and are avoiding public transport due to contamination fears,” he said.
This week a Car Next Door study found that while the majority of users are travelling less than usual, many are relying on Car Next Door for their essential travel. Around 75 percent of members have stopped or significantly reduced their use of public transport – choosing car sharing as the safest and best alternative for those trips they still need to make.
The study found they are also avoiding other means of transport, like Uber and taxi, that they previously relied upon in conjunction with car sharing.
Mr Davies said there’s a group of front-line health workers sharing one car in Sydney – so the nurses and doctors can get to the hospitals, while still maintaining safe social distancing.
“There are a lot of healthcare workers that need transport and don’t want to be travelling in densely populated public transport.”
“Now that it’s become much harder to get online food delivery, we also have many members delivering food to people in need, often leaving it outside the front door.”
“This shows the spirit of the community and we want to do our best to ensure we can keep enough cars available for those in need.”
“We just want to make sure cars are there for when people need them – so just book them for the time you need it.”
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