The environmentally friendly on-demand service offered by DB subsidiary ioki and the Verkehrsbetriebe Hamburg-Holstein GmbH (VHH) has already established itself as a permanent mobility component in Hamburg. Today, the «ioki Hamburg» e-shuttles are also being launched in the Brunsbek/Lütjensee/Trittau region and in the city of Ahrensburg as part of the RealLabHH project.
The individual shuttle service can be booked via the ioki Hamburg app and takes passengers to their destination on flexible routes. This service is particularly attractive because it is integrated into the public transport system and can be used simply with an HVV ticket plus one euro surcharge per trip and person.
Demand-driven, environmentally friendly service
«With the expansion of ioki Hamburg’s service area, we are jointly continuing the success story of the on-demand service. We are pleased that in the future, especially the citizens of Hamburg’s surrounding areas will benefit from the demand-oriented and environmentally friendly service. In this way, we are strengthening public transport and creating a genuine alternative to private motorized transport,» says Dr. Michael Barillère-Scholz, Managing Director of ioki.
The new service operates with zero-emission electric cars from the British manufacturer LEVC. The vehicles have six seats and are also barrier-free: wheelchair users can get in using a ramp. Baby carriages can also be transported comfortably.
Closing the last mile
In order to make the service expansion as demand-oriented and efficient as possible, ioki conducted a comprehensive mobility analysis in advance to determine where there was a need for this service around the Stormarn district and how many vehicles would be needed to meet it. As of today, four ioki Hamburg Shuttles will link the communities of Brunsbek, Großensee, Lütjensee, Trittau, Rausdorf and the districts of Granderheide,
Stellau and Stemwarde, thereby providing a closer connection to the Hamburg metropolitan region. The mobility analysis by ioki also considered the commuter stops Trittau-Vorburg, Stapelfeld, Neuschönningstedt-Haidkrug, Wil-linghusen-Kehre and Großlohe in the traffic planning in order to close the first and last mile without gaps, especially here.
«We are pleased to have the opportunity to test two on-demand projects in the Stormarn district within the Reallabor Hamburg. This is an important step towards a concept that is fit for the future in order to continuously improve the networking of mobility services between rural and urban areas,» says District Administrator Dr. Henning Görtz.
Complement to the existing local transport
Five vehicles will be used in the town of Ahrensburg. Here, the new service will primarily provide access to outlying areas such as Hagen or Wulfsdorf, but also the entire city area will be covered better by the addition to the existing local transport system.
«The on-demand shuttle service ioki Hamburg is a comprehensive and precisely targeted addition to the city’s existing public transport service. In Ahrensburg, 14 additional stops have been created. This means that 90 percent of residents can then reach a stop within 250 meters,» says Ahrensburg Mayor Michael Sarach.
Ahrensburg and the Stormarn district, together with Winsen, have been designated as a trial region for the «Reallabor Hamburg» initiative sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) to test the on-demand services of DB subsidiary ioki in rural areas. In the Brunsbek region, the service is being rolled out jointly with the district of Stormarn and Süderelbe AG. In Ahrensburg, the city of Ahrensburg is a project partner. In both test regions, VHH is responsible for operating the vehicles.
