Moscow Launches City-Backed Carsharing Scheme

Moscow has launched a new government-backed carsharing plan called Delimobil to help ease the city's chronic traffic jams, The Moscow Times reports.

The scheme began service last week with 100 pay-by-minute cars but plans to expand its fleet to 1,500 vehicles by the end of 2016. The service will compete with existing privately operated sharing systems in the city. One advantage over its rivals: Delimobil provides customers with free parking for the vehicles they rent.

MT says Italy's General Invest fund is backing the venture with 1 billion rubles (€13 million). The service will charge users about 9 rubles per minute when the 5-ruble introductory rate expires next month.

The Federation of Russian Car Owners estimates putting 10,000 shared cars on the road in Moscow would reduce the city's current traffic load by 350,000-400,000 vehicles, according to the newspaper.