Carsharing: the Emergance of Infrastructure and the Ways of its Usage

Carsharing is a temporary car rental service that appeared in Russia in 2012. In Russia, the service is only available in 14 major cities, and is most common in Moscow. Moscow carsharing differs in the pace of development from cities in other countries. So for a few years, the service has become one of the three most developed carsharing companies in the world. Despite the fact that carsharing is becoming popular in Russia, this topic is not well studied in the scientific community. The purpose of this master's thesis is to identify the features of the formation of the car-sharing infrastructure in Russia and the practices of its use. In this paper, we analyzed the international experience in the development of car sharing infrastructure and identified two main stages of development. The first stage is distinguished by cars bought by a cooperative, as well as by taking and closing a lease, which took place only in one particular place in the city. The second stage is the idea of ​​open one-way car sharing. Which is different in that it can be taken in one place and left in another. The study was conducted on the basis of empirical material consisting of 18 interviews with users and a usage diary (March 2019 - April 2020). Thanks to the data obtained, the main actors who were included in the practice of using the car-sharing infrastructure in the city of Moscow were identified, which may differ depending on the perception of the car-sharing infrastructure and the level of information about it. The main practices for using the car-sharing infrastructure in the city of Moscow were also systematized. The goals of using car-sharing by users, as well as the main reasons forming the practice of use were highlighted and the practice of interaction with various technological and social actors was considered. On the basis of which it was highlighted that the car-sharing infrastructure is practically completely technological space for the user, but interaction with social objects is carried out regularly mainly due to failures and breakdowns arising from the use of services. Also in this work, changes in usage practices in response to the current epidemiological situation were analyzed.