Car ownership is big part of Australian culture, so what would it take for you to give it up?
The first thing most teenagers do when they turn 16 is stick an L-plate on the back of their parents' car.
Many of us live in a family household somewhere in outer suburban Australia, a long way from the nearest bus stop, making access to a vehicle crucial.
"In Australia, cars actually make our lives work so we're really pushing a hard bargain when we're asking people to get out of their cars," research lead of Urbanism at the University of Sydney Jennifer Kent said.
"Our cities are designed around cars, we're culturally very attached to private cars."
The emergence of car-sharing apps could reduce this dependency, but despite the industry's recent global growth, there's still a few hurdles to jump.
What is car sharing?
Different models have emerged over the past 15 years or so, but car sharing should not be confused with ride-sharing apps such as Uber.
Some car-sharing apps involve users picking up and then dropping off a vehicle at the same location.
Other apps let people rent out their own private cars to other people to drive short-term — this is known as a peer-to-peer model.
There are also companies that own a fleet of cars, where people can drive one and then drop it off within a general area or neighbourhood.
While "it makes living without a car possible", Dr Kent said there were some limitations.
"We generally find that car-sharing cars are used for rare trips, so they're not used for the day-to-day journey to work or journey to school, because they are quite expensive," she said.
"People who use car-sharing cars rely on public transport and active transport to be able to do all their other trips, and they use car sharing to fill in the gaps.
"They want to go to [a hardware store] on the weekend, or they want to go visit family and friends in the suburbs."
Has it been successful?
Car-sharing is already underway in most capital cities, but the Gold Coast is yet to establish policies regulating how it operates.
A report endorsed by council's Transport and Infrastructure Committee this week recommended a 12-month trial that would see 20 parking spots across seven suburbs reserved for car sharing.
The goal would be to assess the data over 12 months and see how car sharing could fit into the city's broader transport plans.
But the report noted how a similar scheme in 2013 proved to be "commercial unviable" with 341 members joining in the first year — representing a seven per cent "utilisation rate", which was well below the council's 25 per cent target.
It also noted, however, that there had been a "significant global expansion in car sharing services" since then, with estimates that each share car could take 10 private cars off the road.
But Dr Kent said the uptake of the technology could "be difficult" to gauge because widespread use was limited to inner city areas with high-population densities.
She estimated about 15 per cent of households in the City of Sydney were members of a car sharing organisation, but said membership did not necessarily guarantee use.
"These are commercial companies and they're often a bit reluctant to release their data on who is car sharing, how many people are car sharing and how much they are doing," Dr Kent said.
The proposed car sharing trial will be voted on at a full council meeting next month.
A piece in a puzzle
Stretched across more than 50 kilometres of coastline, the Gold Coast's transport network has been criticised as being car-dependent, especially in western suburbs that lack adequate bus routes.
Dr Kent said she was skeptical about car sharing spreading into those outer suburban areas.
"While it works in theory and on paper, I still think we're coming up against that cultural attachment to private car use in the suburbs," she said.
"They want their car to be theirs."
As for inner-city residents with access to public transport, Dr Kent said car sharing could be cheaper, depending on "the individual's transport behaviour".
"People who do get rid of a car and use car sharing from time to time, it is cheaper lifestyle, it is a cheaper way to live, but you need to get rid of that car," she said.
"Once you sell the car, you've got the all the costs of rego, insurance, etc [gone] — it can be cheaper in that context."
