It is not unusual for car drivers to have to drive around the block one lap at a time before a parking space opens up. In this time-consuming search, it makes no difference whether it is a private car or a car-sharing vehicle. Even though car sharing is supposed to help reduce the number of private cars in Berlin, the Senate does not give the fleets any advantage in the city by reserving parking spaces especially for them.

Such parking spaces are almost non-existent in Berlin - and, according to the Senate and the boroughs, are not planned. This is shown by answers from the Senate Transport Administration to an as yet unpublished question from MP Felix Reifschneider (FDP), which was made available to the Tagesspiegel in advance.

According to this, there are almost exclusively in the districts of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg and Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf special parking spaces for car-sharing vehicles - and even there only in very manageable numbers. According to information from the district, 13 parking spaces in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg are reserved for vehicles from individual rental car fleets.

All providers are allowed to park in a further 48 parking spaces, and there are 19 in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. The district of Neukölln names a further eight parking spaces, and there is one in Lichtenberg. In addition, there are individual parking spaces citywide at BVG Jelbi stations. No further parking spaces are planned.

"Berlin can become the capital of carsharing if the Senate and districts finally create the right framework conditions," said Reifschneider. He accused the Senate and boroughs of a lack of commitment to sharing services: "It can't be that there isn't a single provider-open parking space for carsharing cars in Mitte and Pankow." At the same time, car sharing contributes to an efficient use of roads and parking space, he said. "These opportunities must finally be used in Berlin and promoted by the Senate."

Munich is currently taking a different approach than Berlin. The Bavarian capital recently decided to reserve 1000 parking spaces for carsharing cars. Of these, 600 are for selected station-based providers and 400 for free-floating services.

"Munich is currently providing an impressive demonstration of what innovative management of shared mobility can look like," says Michael Fischer, spokesman for the car-sharing companies in the Shared Mobility platform. "We wish that this example would set a precedent in Germany."

Gunnar Nehrke, managing director of the German Carsharing Association, also calls for dedicated parking spaces for the vehicles - but especially for station-based offerings: "Parking spaces for station-based carsharing in public spaces are particularly urgent. The offer is not visible today, although the fleet accounts for about half of the German carsharing market." Because the parking spaces are often located in private backyards, the services are still hardly known to users, despite their widespread use.

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