Good news for ioki Hamburg – all four service areas will be extended. The on-demand shuttles in the Hamburg districts of Osdorf/Lurup and Billbrook, as well as in Ahrensburg and the Brunsbek/Luetjensee/Trittau area in the Stormarn district of Schleswig-Holstein, will now continue at least until December 2022.
«We see the extension of all four services as confirmation of the path we have taken. On-demand services like ioki Hamburg are not in competition to public transport, but a valuable addition on the first and last mile,» says Toralf Müller, Managing Director of Hamburg-Holstein Transport Authority (VHH), which is responsible for operating the shuttles.
Dr. Michael Barillère-Scholz, Managing Director of the Deutsche Bahn (DB) technology company ioki, adds: «The extension confirms that flexible on-demand shuttles make a decisive contribution to comprehensive and environmentally friendly mobility. Beyond 2022, users will have access to digital and demand-oriented ridepooling services from ioki as an alternative to private cars.»
Since mid-2018, on-demand shuttles have been reinforcing local public transport in Hamburg’s public transport network (HVV). The shuttles are operated by VHH, and the software behind is provided by DB subsidiary ioki. In December 2020, ioki Hamburg transport services were added in Ahrensburg and the Brunsbek/Luetjensee/Trittau area as part of the regulatory sandbox Hamburg project and in cooperation with the city of Ahrensburg and the Stormarn district.
Over 580,000 passengers have already used the shuttle service in the districts of Lurup, Osdorf and Billbrook as well as in Ahrensburg and Brunsbek in the past three and a half years. The 20 emission-free electric shuttles take passengers to their destinations on flexible routes around the clock every day and have covered more than 2.6 million passenger kilometres. It is particularly pleasing that more than half of the trips are booked on demand – and the trend is rising.
«Even in smaller towns or in rural areas, digital and on-demand transport services work well and provide good connections. On-demand transport increases travel speed and flexibility, which benefits people’s mobility needs,» says Finn Blunck, project manager of the city of Ahrensburg.
The fact that the on-demand transport ioki Hamburg also works during the Corona crisis is confirmed by a recent study by the Technical University of Hamburg, which has scientifically accompanied the project since its launch. 52 percent of regular passengers remain loyal to the service even in times of lockdown, home office and curfew, 28 percent even used the shuttles more frequently during this time than before the pandemic.
Five facts about ioki Hamburg
- ioki Hamburg’s shuttle service has been used by over 580,000 passengers in the last three and a half years.
- ioki Hamburg is popular: 84 percent of those surveyed who have not yet used ioki are in favour of maintaining the service. Among regular ioki users, the figure is as high as 100 percent.
- ioki Hamburg shuttles have already covered more than 2.6 million passenger kilometres.
- Around 72 percent of passengers use ioki Hamburg to get to a major public transport stop to continue their journey.
- More than 88 percent of ioki Hamburg passengers hold an HVV season ticket.
