Shared mobility takes many forms

Shared mobility is defined as transportation services and resources that are shared among users, either concurrently or one after another. This includes public transit; micromobility (bikesharing, scooter sharing); automobile-based modes (carsharing, rides on demand, and microtransit); and commute-based modes or ridesharing (carpooling and vanpooling).

Carsharing is nothing but car rental for typically shorter term (e.g. hourly) that provides registered members access to vehicles and charged by the time and/or distance driven. Round-trip carsharing requires the vehicle to be returned to the the origin point so that it’s made available for the next member. Free-floating carsharing allows for one-way trips where members can begin and end trips (almost) anywhere within a defined operating area. Peer-to-peer carsharing is a system where car owners can host their vehicles for others to rent on a platform.

Ride-sharing (also carpooling) is the practice of sharing empty seats in a vehicle. The driver picks up passengers that wish to travel to (or along) the same destination (or route) that the driver is heading to. Riders may pay a fraction of the trip costs, but the price is does not incentivize the driver to make the trip for exclusively economic reasons.

Ride-Hailing* is where the passenger (rider) directs the driver to the destination and pays a price for the service.

*Ride-hailing does not qualify as SHARED mobility unless there are more than one rider heading to the same or to different destinations.