Car Sharing
Car sharing is a service that offers you a car that you can drive in town, picking it from and returning it to an arranged car park, and paying for the service on a km or time basis. In Italy, with law decree of March 27 1998, the Ministry of the Environment and the Protection of the Territory, as part of its sustainable mobility policies, promotes car sharing as a service designed to decrease the incidence of traffic on the city environment. Thanks to the financial support of the Ministry, the Car Sharing Initiative (ICS) was born, a structure devoted to the coordination of local realities, which, in addition to providing assistance to the cities that plan to develop car sharing systems, is designed to define national standards – from both the operational and technological viewpoints – and standardised procedures. In many Italian cities, e.g., Turin, Genoa, Milan, Venice, Parma, Modena, Bologna, Florence and Rome, car sharing is already active. The cars making up the car sharing fleets are mostly Fiat cars, such as the new 500 and several models in the Natural Power range: Panda Panda Natural Power, Punto Classic Natural Power, Multipla Natural Power. Advantages of car sharing: Reduced atmospheric pollution. The cars are used intensively and replaced frequently. On average, they are more modern than privately-owned cars and, cover the same mileage ensuring better fuel consumption and reduced impact on the environment. Lower costs. Purchase, maintenance and insurance costs and tax are paid for by the organisation supplying the service. You only pay for the costs arising from actual use of the car (distance-based or time-based fees). Improved mobility opportunities. Shared cars can access limited traffic zones (ZTL) and reserved lanes; they can stop free of charge in paid car parks and are not subject to traffic bans. Fewer cars taking up parking places in town.