There is a common misconception in India at least where people see owning vehicles are better than renting them out. In this case they are forgetting to think about the sustainability of resources and impact it causes on our environment in worst case scenario’s. However, that mentality of people or at least the newer generation is changing - although not at a drastic rate, but still something is better than nothing. If more and more people prefer renting vehicles instead of buying them, some notable advantages - not only in terms of cost and convenience but also in terms of environmental impact.
Reduced Resource Consumption:
For the production of vehicles (Bikes & Cars) - we require tonnes and tonnes of raw materials, energy and water. When and if people start opting to rent rather than buying one, the manufacturing numbers actually goes down. Which in-turn reduces the demand for expensive resources like aluminium and steel, and harmful resources that take a long time to degrade like plastic and rubber.
This way of reduced resource consumption also applies to bikes, especially in a country like India, where most people prefer travelling via a two-wheeler rather than a car just because it makes sense in the urban areas. Bike rentals, especially in urban areas and big cities, reduce the need of individuals to buy their own bikes, allowing a lesser number of bikes and two-wheelers to serve a larger population. Where less or reduced numbers in manufacturing means, lesser emissions from factories and reduced usage of natural resources - which enables sustainability of resources helping our future generations.
Lower Carbon Footprint:
When people start renting vehicles over buying them (both cars and bikes) - then the contribution towards a lower overall footprint reduces.
Car Rentals: It’s not like you are only able to rent older and beat-up vehicles, Rental companies very often update their fleets, where they replace older models with low efficiency with newer, and eco-friendly models. There are many vehicle rental companies that offer electric vehicle (EV) options to their customers, which have significantly lower emissions compared to any Internal combustion engines (ICE’s). While renting ICE vehicles only reduce your carbon footprint, renting EV’s takes another step in the reduction on carbon footprint and also a major helping hand with fighting climate change.
Bike Rentals: Opting to rent a bike over renting cars or using public transport can significantly reduce the carbon emissions produced. Bikes produce lower emissions compared to vehicles with bigger engines - In fact according to a study, the carbon footprint produced by a motorcycle is 46.4% lower than that of a petrol-powered car. Also when people start preferring renting bikes over buying them or even over renting cars, this reduces the number of cars on the road, resulting in lowered traffic in cities and lesser pollution.
Shared Economy and Maximising Efficiency
The concept of a shared economy, especially with vehicles is common to the environmental benefits of renting. When vehicles are rented, people prefer to use it more compared to using their own and personal vehicles - which reduces the number of vehicles being simple parked.
In case of cars, there are studies that show personal vehicles, for about 95% of their lifespan remain parked, rarely some are used. When comparing these numbers with rented vehicles, these rented vehicles are used more frequently, because - people want the most our of their money spent. When going through this data, we can get to an understanding that fewer cars are needed to meet existing population’s transportation needs. With this we are able to come to a conclusion with a lower number of cars only the transportation needs are taken care of for most of the people, and also demand for parking spaces and long traffic jams can be easily avoided.
Meanwhile bike rentals also share a similar sharing model, Many major cities nowadays bike-sharing programs, where people often these kinds of rentable bikes to travel short distances - while not only enabling mobility, they also contribute towards reducing the environmental impact due to vehicles.
Conclusion: Renting towards a greener future
It’s not just a convenient option to rent vehicles (bikes and cars), if you think about it - it is also a smart, sustainable choice towards the environment. Renting is not just a pocket-friendly option when compared to buying a vehicle, it also saves you from the depreciation and also pulling you away from the long-term responsibilities of ownership all while pushing you actively towards preservation of invaluable resources. This initiative could even be a smaller step like, renting a bike for your day-to-day commute or renting a car for a road trip, you definitely are taking a step closer to reducing the carbon footprint produced.
We are currently living in a world where every individual’s choice counts. Renting over buying can and will have a positive, long lasting impact towards our environment and a sustainable future.