This month SHARE NOW celebrates its tenth anniversary in Amsterdam. The European market leader in free-floating car-sharing was launched in November 2011 – then under the name of car2go – as the first flexible car-sharing service in Amsterdam. Simultaneously with the anniversary, SHARE NOW reaches the milestone of 100,000 users, who have collectively traveled over 36 million electric kilometers since the launch.
Service strongly grown in 10 years
In recent years, SHARE NOW evolved as the major flexible car-sharing service in Amsterdam, growing steadily in users, product range, fleet size and business area. The Amsterdam home area was expanded in 2018 with a hub at Schiphol Airport and in 2020 with a hub in Amstelveen. As of this year, it is even possible to park a shared car at two hubs in Rotterdam.
The car-sharing service is continuously working on the enhancement of the service. In 2016, SHARE NOW started to offer a B2B product and in 2020 SHARE NOW introduced long-term rentals, meaning rentals of at least one day. This year SHARE NOW introduced its loyalty program SHARE NOW Rewards.
A further important development was the expansion of the fleet portfolio and fleet size. Today, users in Amsterdam can choose from a greater variety of electric vehicles and the brands BMW, smart and Fiat.
More electric shared cars on the way
"SHARE NOW has always had a 100% electric fleet since its launch, something we are very proud of. We have been striving for sustainable mobility for ten years and believe in sharing more and owning less, so we can make our cities more livable and future-proof. More electric shared cars will help with this, and with the large number and different models we are trying to offer our users as much flexibility as possible. Therefore, only recently our fleet was expanded to a total of 400 electric shared cars", says Robert Bosman, Managing Director of SHARE NOW Netherlands.
Popular among the residents of Amsterdam
The introduction of SHARE NOW in Amsterdam ten years ago proved to be a good decision. Overall, the 100,000 customers are using the shared cars extensively and the usage is steadily growing. In October, the number of rentals increased by 52 percent compared to last year. The average rental duration increased by 48 percent in the same period and is now 41 minutes.
"The figures show that the residents of Amsterdam increasingly embrace the idea of sharing a car instead of ownership. Shared mobility is a great solution for a populated city like Amsterdam. It has a positive effect on the rapidly increasing traffic and parking pressure in and around the city, but also helps to reduce CO2 emissions. More and more people are helping us achieve our mission to make our cities more livable. That makes us very proud. To make urban mobility as sustainable as possible, we are also working closely together with the municipality of Amsterdam'', says Bosman.
Cooperation with the municipality
The municipality of Amsterdam says: “Amsterdam congratulates SHARE NOW on its 10-year presence in Amsterdam. SHARE NOW was the first free-floating organization in the city and has thus given a push to both zero-emission mobility and shared transport in Amsterdam.” The municipality is working out an agreement with SHARE NOW and other providers to further increase both the supply and use of shared cars in the city.