Henrik Falk, CEO of Hamburger Hochbahn, which is responsible for the Hamburg Reallabor, remarked: "The steadily growing range of shared mobility offers and smart access on just one app begs the question whether company cars will be needed in future." A modern transport budget will make the use of company cars a thing of the past, said Anjes Tjarks, Senator for Transport and Mobility Transition, adding: "The concept offers both employers and employees flexibility, simplicity and comfort." Hamburg hopes to bring the mobility transition to companies in this way, he added.
A new pilot project, within the framework of the Reallabor Hamburg (RealLabHH), will see firms in Hamburg set up a budget for flexible transport for their employees to use buses, underground and suburban trains, car sharing, e-scooters, the ride-sharing service MOIA all of which can be booked on the "HVV Switch" app. The study focuses on whether such a budget and greater use of public transport might be an attractive alternative to private and company cars.
Budget as a catalyst of mobility transition
Major Hamburg companies involved
The Chamber of Commerce, the Reeperbahn Festival, Zeit-Verlag, Funke Medien Hamburg and Acer Deutschland, which is based in the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, are among the large firms taking part in the pilot study. Up to 50 employees per company are to test the budget initially with up to EUR 50 per month. The funds will be debited online after using the app and users can view it at any time. "Of course, we hope that the pilot phase will have a lasting effect and that our employees will increasingly switch to public transport or sharing services," said Merle Remer, Project Manager of the Reeperbahn Festival. "We want to help change transport in a small way." The S-Bahn Hamburg is managing the pilot project. The participating employees will be surveyed before, during and after the use of the budget. The results of the survey will be forwarded to the German government via the National Platform Future of Mobility.
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