(Hamburg, January 29, 2020) A study by the Technical University of Hamburg shows an increase of attractiveness for public transport and potential for climate protection • 72 per cent of passengers are taken to a public transport stop • Every fourth passenger replaces car rides with shuttle

The on-demand service ioki Hamburg offers an individual shuttle service as a supplement to bus and train, integrated into the existing local public transport system (ÖPNV). Since July 2018, ioki, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn, and the Verkehrsbetriebe Hamburg-Holstein GmbH (VHH) have been transporting passengers to their destinations around the clock on flexible routes. But does the new service really strengthen climate-friendly local transport? A survey by the Institute for Transport Planning and Logistics at the Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) has scientifically investigated these and other questions.

The results show that the on-demand concept is well received and continues to establish itself as an integral part of public transport.

Five core results of the ioki Hamburg study:

• 72 percent of those surveyed let themselves be driven to the nearest public transport stop or station or be picked up from there.
• Every fourth passenger replaces the trip by car with the individual shuttle service.
• 50 percent of passengers use the service daily.
• 85.7 percent of passengers using ioki Hamburg for security reasons are female.
• 88 percent of the passengers have a HVV season ticket.

“We offer a true alternative to owning an own car. If one in four passengers already uses our on-demand shuttle instead of their cars, it becomes clear that being mobile without your own car works very well. We want to upgrade public transport and make a measurable contribution to the climate-friendly mobility revolution. The study proves that our concept is working,” says Dr. Michael Barillère-Scholz, Managing Director of ioki.

“The vast majority use ioki Hamburg as a shuttle to the next public transport stop. This is a pleasing development. The more attractive local transport gets, the more we are relieving the city centre of carbon dioxide emissions, traffic noise and particulate matter,” says Toralf Müller, Managing Director of the VHH.

The TUHH study also confirms that there was a positive effect of introducing the comfort surcharge in April 2019. 56 percent of passengers use the offer just as intensively as before, 21 percent even more often. The popularity is great: 77 rate the introduction of the comfort surcharge as positive. Since then, the reliability of the shuttles bookable via app has been increased to over 90 percent availability rate.

About ioki Hamburg

The ioki Hamburg Shuttle is a new mobility offer from Deutsche Bahn. It is a public transport service without fixed timetables or lines, which is fully integrated into the tariff of the Hamburger Verkehrsverbund (HVV). Passengers with similar routes are automatically bundled into car pools using an algorithm and are transported together. In the service area, additional stops have been set up at intervals of no more than 200 meters. This allows optimal coverage of urban areas and a sensible addition to the existing public transport system. Since July 2018, around 300,000 passengers have already taken advantage of the service. In November 2019, Billbrook was added to the ioki Hamburg service area.