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Thanks to Mobility, the city of Zurich saves around 8,000 parking spaces

30.01.2025

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For the first time, an independent report shows the impact of Mobility on traffic. This impact is particularly high in Zurich. The private cars which are not required thanks to car sharing would fill the Sechseläuteplatz, the largest town square, six times. For Mobility CEO Roland Lötscher, the conclusion is clear.

Without Mobility, Zurich would have even greater transport and space problems. An independent report shows that car sharing in the city saves almost 8,000 private cars as well as the respective parking spaces.

Car sharing takes the strain off the roads. On average, one Mobility vehicle replaces 18 privately owned cars

The congestion-relieving effect of car sharing is well known. However, the Mobility Cooperative wanted to know for sure and had the effect independently investigated for the first time. To this end, the consultancy firm BSS Volkswirtschaftliche Beratung conducted a survey of members in cooperation with the University of Applied Sciences of Eastern Switzerland (OST).

You can find the summary of the study here.

The individual pictures are shown here.

The result: on average, each Mobility car replaces 18 private cars. Study co-author Fabiana Kappeler says: “According to their own assessment, the respondents would own significantly more cars without Mobility. Mobility’s car sharing offer means that parking space can be saved on a massive scale – space that is then available for other uses.”

Car parks in Zurich: Mobility is a resource for urban transport strategy

The avoidance rate of private cars in the city of Zurich is higher than the Swiss average: Here, each Mobility car replaces 21 private cars. The cooperative’s total number of shared cars in the city yields almost 8,000 vehicles and parking spaces that are not required. This corresponds to an area of up to 100,000 square metres – or six times the size of the Sechseläutenplatz square. Car sharing as part of the mobility solution can therefore help the city of Zurich to further reduce traffic pressure and create additional space. This applies in particular in view of the “Urban Space and Mobility 2040” strategy, with which the city is aiming for a groundbreaking shift in land use at district level. Private motorised transport must thus make way for sustainable forms of mobility and more green spaces.

Car sharing makes your street greener

How can this effect be illustrated? Using photos. To this end, roads were photographed in Switzerland’s largest cities. On these streets, so many cars that were lost in the city in question thanks to Mobility customers were then removed and e.g. replaced by green spaces.

Starting with Anwandstrasse in Zurich, other cities will follow soon. In Zurich, for each Mobility car 21 private cars are no longer being used.

You can decide for yourself which street you prefer to live in.

A strong case for more car sharing

“For me, the results of the study are a huge incentive for further expanding our offer,” says Mobility CEO Roland Lötscher. “If we want to overcome the mobility challenges in Switzerland, we need a significantly higher proportion of car sharing in the mobility mix.” To achieve this, Mobility intends to work even more closely with cities, cantons, companies and upper-level apartments in future. “Together, we want to make sustainable mobility as easy as possible.”

“1:18 – or how Mobility takes the pressure off Swiss roads”

Study details
Mobility has had the impact of its own car sharing scheme in Switzerland quantified. The scientifically supported study was carried out by the Basel-based consulting firm BSS Volkswirtschaftliche Beratung in cooperation with the University of Applied Sciences of Eastern Switzerland. The evaluation standard of the German Car Sharing Association (bcs) served as the basis. In September 2024, around 5,700 Mobility members were asked about their vehicle ownership and mobility behaviour.
Key findings:
1 Mobility car replaced in Switzerland on average 18 private cars.
The effect differs locally. While it is even higher in cities (up to 23 in Basel), the effect is still at 9 9.
73% of respondents life in a household without a car.
The degree of motorisation in households with a Mobility subscription is 2 to 3 times smaller in the cities surveyed than in average households.
The Mobility offer plays an important role in the decision to to get rid of your own car (over 50% say “fairly large” to “very large”)
Conclusion: Thanks to Mobility, around 40,000 fewer cars are on the road in Switzerland.

Car sharing reduces private motorised transport

The report also looked at the level of motorisation of households: In the cities studied, the number of cars per 1,000 people is on average at least twice as high as in households with a Mobility subscription. Fabiana Kappeler says: “Thanks to the car sharing scheme, many Mobility customers do without a private car entirely. This has a direct impact on mobility behaviour: People who do not own a car are more likely to travel by public transport, bicycle or on foot. This also means a reduction in individual motorised transport.”