CleverShuttle and ioki are collaborating on behalf of Stadtwerke Aschaffenburg to bring the on-demand service « City Shuttle » to the streets. The Deutsche Bahn subsidiaries cover the entire value chain for on-demand transport services: CleverShuttle is responsible for the operational business, ioki provides the intelligent platform technology for the service.
The new service was launched in Aschaffenburg on 6th February and transports passengers on demand and without a fixed timetable throughout the city. « City-Shuttle » runs on Sundays and public holidays between 6 a.m. and 1 a.m. and provides more mobility out-side the regular operating hours of local public transport.
« City-Shuttle underlines the strength of on-demand transport as a useful addition to existing local transport: at off-peak times, such as weekends or holidays, when public transport services are often stretched thin, they create a reliable and safe ride service that is efficient on demand and transports people virtually from door to door, » says CleverShuttle CEO and co-founder, Bruno Ginnuth.
Three minibuses are used for the new on-demand transport. Operator CleverShuttle pro-vides an electrically powered Nissan vehicle. The Stadtwerke Aschaffenburg contribute two combustion engine vehicles from Mercedes and Volkswagen. Each vehicle offers space for up to six passengers. Due to Corona, the number of passengers is initially limited to a maximum of four people per vehicle. As the operator, CleverShuttle is responsible for the entire operational implementation of the transport – from data-based deployment planning to the control of live operations and the management of the driving personnel.
Intelligent algorithm forms carpools
ioki provides both the app for the passengers and the app for the shuttle drivers. Together with the control centre, in which the Stadtwerke Aschaffenburg can control the service, they form the digital operating system for « City-Shuttle »: passengers can book journeys up to ten minutes before departure or a maximum of 72 hours in advance via the « City-Shuttle » app. An intelligent algorithm forms carpools between passengers with similar starting points and destinations. In this way, the vehicles are optimally utilised at all times and relieve local traffic.
« With our innovative on-demand system, we provide an environmentally friendly, comfortable and individual mobility offer in Aschaffenburg. Together with Stadtwerke Aschaffenburg and CleverShuttle, we show how public transport can become a real alternative to private cars, » says Benjamin Pfeifer, Chief Commercial Officer and Member of the Executive Board at ioki.
In the city of Aschaffenburg, « City-Shuttle » drives to a dense network of over 300 physical and virtual stops. This means that the route to the next stop is always only a few hundred metres away. Passengers are guided to their respective boarding stop directly in the « City-Shuttle » app.
On-demand transport from CleverShuttle and ioki for full-coverage public mobility
With the new on-demand service in Aschaffenburg, CleverShuttle and ioki are continuing their successful cooperation for the realisation of integrated mobility concepts: The DB subsidiaries are currently working together on five on-demand services in Germany, including four services in the large-scale « OnDeMo » project managed by the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund, which will benefit up to 1.8 million people in the Rhine-Main region.
As holistic mobility service providers, CleverShuttle and ioki complement each other perfectly and support cities, districts and public transport companies in successfully put-ting on-demand transport on the road. With more than six years of experience in the nationwide operation of on-demand transport, CleverShuttle focuses on the operational side. As the leading platform provider for digital mobility in the DACH region, ioki pro-vides the intelligent platform technology for on-demand transport. In addition, ioki sup-ports in advance with detailed mobility analyses in the planning of new mobility offers in line with the existing system.
The companies are pursuing a common vision: to make public transport attractive everywhere with flexible on-demand services and thus offer even more people an attractive mobility option. Within the past three years, the DB subsidiaries have already implemented around 330 on-demand services throughout Germany and transported seven million passengers.
