On-demand ridesharing: moovel Group and Karlsruher Verkehrsverbund offer an additional mobility service during the IT-Trans Conference and Exhibition

• Demand-responsive, flexible mobility in Karlsruhe urban area
• Three day pilot operations start on March 6, 2018
• 'Pooling' system groups together journey requests for shared rides
• Free booking using the 'KVV.mobil - powered by moovel' app

Stuttgart/Karlsruhe, 2/20/2018. The moovel Group and the Karlsruher Verkehrsverbund (KVV) launch an on-demand shuttle service in March. The new service will be tested in Karlsruhe as part of a pilot operation during the IT-Trans Exhibition from March 6 to 8. Over the three days of the exhibition, both visitors and all inhabitants of the fan-shaped city will be able to use the additional mobility service free of charge.

With their new on-demand ridesharing service during the IT-Trans Exhibition, moovel and KVV are offering a pioneering new form of mobility. The idea behind the pilot project: passengers book their journey via the 'KVV.mobil' app and are then picked up and transported to their personal destination by minivan - without being bound to a fixed timetable. The shuttle vehicle is shared by several passengers simultaneously. An algorithm calculates the fastest route through the city to one of the over 100 destination stops. The on-demand ridesharing offer will be available to passengers on Tuesday, March 6 and Wednesday, March 7 from 8 am to 12 pm and on Thursday, March 8 from 8 am to 6 pm. During the test phase, the use of the new mobility service is free of charge.

'This shuttle service ideally complements our extremely efficient local public transport system. On-demand solutions will be an important cornerstone for the mobility of the future,' explains Dr. Alexander Pischon, CEO of KVV. 'Working together with moovel, we want to respond more strongly to the individual requirements of our customers and thus create an attractive, cheap and eco-friendly alternative to taxi or private car use. At the same time, however, the local rail service will remain the backbone of multimodal mobility in Karlsruhe,' stresses Dr. Pischon.

Daniela Gerd tom Markotten, CEO of the moovel Group GmbH, explains how digitalization effectively changes people's mobility behavior: 'We are observing that people no longer wish to be bound to a certain form of transport and are questioning mobility routines. At the same time, the desire for being able to use mobility as service and when required, i.e. on-demand, is increasing. moovel on-demand combines all our strengths: intelligent routing including real-time data, the integrated booking and payment functions, and now also the pooling of journeys. I am very pleased that we are able to introduce our moovel on-demand service in Karlsruhe in cooperation with KVV.'& amp; amp; amp; amp; amp; amp; amp; amp; amp; amp; amp; amp; amp; amp; amp; nbsp;

On-demand ridesharing reduces traffic volumes in city centers

The on-demand service from moovel and KVV combines the strengths of local public transport with the advantages of a private car. The officials in the City Hall in Karlsruhe are looking forward to the pilot project: 'People's mobility behavior is changing rapidly due to digitalization. We have to respond to this trend. In Karlsruhe, many new mobility options for the future are being developed and tested, such as the test area for autonomous driving,' says Karlsruhe's Lord Mayor, Dr. Frank Mentrup.

Algorithm enables individual route planning

The new mobility service is based on the on-demand platform from moovel, which enables the operation of a demand-oriented, flexible fleet using intelligent journey management ('routing') and the grouping of journey requests ('pooling'), and will initially include ten Mercedes-Benz V-Class vehicles. If several people want to travel a similar route, the moovel algorithms pool the requests so that multiple passengers share one vehicle (ridesharing). The routes to the destinations within the city are correspondingly dynamic, with journey and arrival times as well as starting point and end stop being individually calculated in each case.

Convenient ride booking via smartphone

The use of the on-demand service is very easy: the 'KVV.mobil' app locates the user and shows suitable shuttle connections to the desired destination. If a user chooses the on-demand service, he will be collected from a location within walking distance of his current position by minivan. moovel has determined more than 100 pick-up and drop-off spots, so-called 'virtual stops' within the Karlsruhe urban area. Of course, the normal services of KVV are also available. In order to ensure that users travel from A to B as quickly as possible, the journey routes are continually recalculated and updated during the journey using real-time data on traffic and the local public transport network. Additionally, an algorithm calculates the expected demand in advance and thus enables accurate predictive fleet management. Similar journey requests are grouped together by the moovel on-demand algorithm so that several passengers share a vehicle.

Further information is available on the Internet:
www.moovel-group.com
www.moovel-on-demand.com/
http://www.kvv.de/

moovel Group GmbH
moovel Group GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Daimler AG, has made it its mission to simplify mobility in cities. It is working on an operating system for urban mobility that offers access to suitable mobility options and paves the way for a future with autonomous vehicles. moovel acts as a partner to cities, transport associations and customers. moovel is represented in the German market with the moovel app. The moovel mobility app combines local public transport, the carsharing provider car2go as well as mytaxi, rental bicycles and Deutsche Bahn. Most services can be booked and paid for simply and directly via the moovel app. With the moovel transit product portfolio, the moovel Group offers white label solutions for transport associations and companies around the world. In the USA, moovel North America, with moovel transit, is the market leader in mobile ticketing solutions for transport associations. moovel Flex Pilot is an on-demand ridesharing service by moovel Group, which is piloted on selected days in Stuttgart from December 2017 onwards.

Karlsruher Verkehrsverbund GmbH
The Karlsruher Verkehrsverbund (KVV) is the third-largest transport association in Baden-Württemberg and, with its 20 transport companies, is the most important mobility services provider in the Upper Rhine area. An important feature of the KVV is the efficient network with its internationally renowned light rail system, which allows passengers to travel into the Karlsruhe city center without having to change trains. Each year, approximately 170 million passengers make use of the attractive services offered by the municipal association, which was founded in 1994 with the city and rural regions of Karlsruhe being stakeholders. The districts of Germersheim, Karlsruhe, Rastatt, Südliche Weinstraße as well as the cities of Baden-Baden, Karlsruhe and Landau in der Pfalz all belong to the association. The KVV plans, coordinates and sells the services of the local public transport on behalf of its stakeholders and the participating transport companies. Its tasks include, among others, the planning of an efficient network of routes, the coordination of timetables and the provision of a common tariff scheme for the association, including distribution of the fare revenue. Furthermore, the KVV is the contact partner for the customers and is responsible for marketing and public relations. As operator of the test area for autonomous driving, the KVV is participating in the innovation competition for the mobility of the future.

The on-demand shuttle to the IT-Trans Exhibition is a further cornerstone in the cooperation between moovel and KVV. In May 2017, the moovel Group GmbH and KVV launched their joint mobility app ' KVV.mobil powered by moovel' onto the market. This app allows users convenient access to the growing network of public and alternative mobility services within the KVV district. The app displays connections and departure times of buses and trains at all 1,900 stops in the KVV area as well as the available rental bicycles of the regional bike-sharing provider 'Fächerrad', and the services of the 'Stadtmobil' carsharing provider. The app is available to download free of charge from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.