Develop a smart choice of mobility services

Summary

Development of new forms of mobility services, their promotion, and implementation in different kinds of environments and a final evaluation of the measures impact.

Implementing sustainable mobility

This measure includes Mobility as a Service (MaaS), private car sharing, and increased information to raise awareness of alternatives to the private car. These are components developed under the ECCENTRIC project to spark citizens' interest in new mobility solutions.
 

Monthly subscription on local travel
In Stockholm, the ECCENTRIC partner UbiGo is developing and aiming to launch one of the world’s first real MaaS services. The service is built on a flexible subscription model that can meet the everyday travel needs of entire households. The following travel modes will be included: public transport in the greater Stockholm region; car sharing; rental cars; taxis; and city bikes. More services may be added later on.

All will be made available through the UbiGo app. This integrates a travel planner that suggests various options for the trip and combines various modes to ensure optimal journey times.

The subscription resembles a bundled smart phone subscription, but with days for public transport usage and hours of car driving time instead of GB of data and minutes of call time. Journey or tickets not used in one month will be transferred to the following month, whilst it is easy to add more if the prepaid amount runs out before the end of the month.

Users can ring a customer support hotline, which is open 24/7. The pilot will run for one year, with its start planned for the second half of 2018.  Evaluations are planned following this.

During Spring 2018, work on the app and the backend was intense, with negotiations taking place with some service providers. The user trial will take place during the second half of 2018. EU funding is being used for the service pilot and some evaluation activities, but does not cover further development of the service.

Share a car with your neighbours
Two companies providing Peer-to-Peer (P2P) car sharing platforms are also partners in ECCENTRIC - GoMore and Snappcar. Both platforms enable individuals to share their own car with neighbours or others. The platforms provide users with the means to offer their shared car, engage with a community of prospective users, and insure vehicles. There is also a mutual rating system for the customer and provider. In the case of GoMore, carpooling is part of the services offered on the platform.

During the project, both SnappCar and GoMore will intensify efforts to attract new users in Stockholm. GoMore have installed a Swedish customer care function and SnappCar have developed an app and added driver licence plate verification (among other features.) Both companies have run ad campaigns on social media to raise awareness of car sharing and encourage new members to use their platforms and offer their vehicles.

In 2018, SnappCar and GoMore plan to develop further specific technical features that form part of their services, increase their presence in Stockholm, and raise awareness of car sharing among the city's residents. Both also aim to improve API compatibility.

Increasing interest in car sharing
All groups involved in this measure, including the City of Stockholm as measure leader, will communicate alternatives to private car use to selected target groups. This will be done both independently and collectively.

More information

• UbiGo - website; Hans Arby, CEO, UbiGo - hans [dot] arby [at] ubigo [dot] me
• Snappcar - website; Fredrik Karlberg, CEO, Snappcar Sweden - //fredrik [dot] karlberg [at] snappcar [dot] se">fredrik [dot] karlberg [at] snappcar [dot] se
• Gomore - website; Klara Bergkvist - klara [at] gomore [dot] com
• City of Stockholm - website; Helene Carlsson - helene [dot] carlsson [at] stockholm [dot] se, Paul Fenton - paul [dot] fenton [at] stockholm [dot] se (paul.fenton@stockholm.se)

Image credit: UbiGo