The government-funded car-sharing service Carloh is experiencing financial troubles. The municipal council showed itself resilient and decided to revamp it with a €2,8 million financial aid. One hopes that more cars and more stations will improve the service's attractiveness. However, competition is making things tough for Carloh.
Ever since CFL's own car-sharing service Flex was brought to life in February last year, Carloh has had a direct competitor. Flex currently boasts around 80 cars available for the general public, spread throughout the whole country. Their 20 stations are always in close proximity to train or bus stations.
Carloh's offer is currently limited to 9 stations in Luxembourg City. Registration can be done online or at their office. An information session is mandatory. According to Carloh, '' [...] it will guarantee understanding and most efficient use of our cars and services.'' In other words, simply signing up is not enough. Even though 630 clients have already signed up, only 400 use it regularly. When questioned about the service's profitability, Patrick Goldschmidt, municipal councillor responsible for traffic and transport in Luxembourg City, showed himself realistic:
"This is not enough for the service to be financially profitable. We did all of this with a fund of €1,5 million, four years ago. This fund is nearly used up. That is why we have to take the decision in the next weeks, to raise the fund and to invest more.'' (from 28 January 2018)
The €2,8 million payment will be paid over 10 years. Owning 97% of the Carloh shares, the government remains the main investor.
With the help of the financial aid, Carloh's services will be increased by 58 new vehicles. The number of car stations will be inflated to 26. Currently no plans are being made to change the concept of Carloh.
What Flex and Carloh have in common is that the client, after having used the car, needs to take it back to its original parking spot. To give you a contrasting example: Drive Now, a service active in 12 cities all around Europe, functions differently. Using a GPS operated app, clients can locate a car, drive to their destination and park it wherever they want. In Munich alone, a whopping 20% of the people who hold a driving license are subscribed to this service. At the same time, these figures should be interpreted with caution: Munich boats over 1 and half million inhabitants, partly explaining the high number of people using this car-sharing app. A potential that Carloh and the city of Luxembourg can, at least for now, only dream of...
