The district, located south-east of Stuttgart and in the Black Forest, will use Savvy Mobility Software within the project “Mobil[er]leben” to offer on-demand rides where and when the stops of regular public transport services are too distant. It is embedded in the wider strategy of the Bundesland of the Baden-Württemberg state to double the number of public transport users by 2030 and thus taking another step toward sustainable mobility in the country.
With this collaboration, Freudenstadt aims to optimize access to transport options in the region by including private taxi operators in the mix. The project foresees the systematic use of shared taxis as a complement to the public transport network, particularly in the more remote and rural areas of the region, but also to increase the first-last-mile connectivity – hence the term “public transport taxi” or “ÖPNV Taxi” in German.
More generally, the project aims to take a step towards sustainable intermodality. A crucial piece in that is to combine different modes of transport in a manner that increases the availability and user friendliness of public transport. This needs to happen, however, without replacing well-functioning bus and train lines with less sustainable modes of transport. At Savvy Mobility, we are convinced that only intelligent intermodality will lead the way to a more sustainable future.
How can intelligent intermodality be achieved?
To do so, we integrate the available datasets of public transport services into the Savvy Mobility Software. On the dispatching web interface, “Savvy Manager”, transport planners can define parameters of the compatibility engine according to their needs and requirements: for example, an on-demand shared taxi ride may only be allowed if there is no available bus route within a 500-meter radius of the stop or a bus scheduled within the next 25 minutes.
Any time, distance, or other relevant information can be specified in the parameters. This allows our customers to be adaptable to both legal requirements as well as passengers needs.
The compatibility engine also allows to combine an on-demand trip with a fixed line: for example, the first 6 kilometers of a trip are done in an on-demand shared taxi to the best available bus or train stop where passengers will change to a fixed line. Savvy Mobility’s compatibility engine calculates these routes based on the defined parameters and displays all relevant information on the passenger app.
Using this compatibility functionality, complementary on-demand mobility services will be offered through shared taxi rides at first in the cities of Freudenstadt and Horb. In a second step, the whole region of the VGF (“Verkehrs-Gemeinschaft Landkreis Freudenstadt”) will be included in the system including up to 35 taxis.
With this on-demand mobility project, Freudenstadt and Savvy Mobility partner up to improve the quality of rural public transport coverage. The collaboration aims at showing the potential of on-demand mobility services in combination with an intermodality offering for other regions in Germany and the world.
Pictures credits: LINK