MOIA’s accessible & emission-free on-demand ride pooling
- Hamburg & Hannover, Germany
On-Demand-Ride-Pooling service from MOIA offers free-of-charge trips to users with and without disabilities, who are travelling from the outskirts of Hamburg to roughly the same direction in the city center by bundling them together and transporting them with electric, accessible, and wheelchair-friendly vehicles.
Service Provided
MOIA is an accessible on-demand ride pooling service that enables people with reduced mobility to use the collective service in Hamburg and Hanover (Germany). The 450 MOIA vehicles in Hamburg are all-electric, including 15 wheelchair-accessible cars. They are minibusses with six seats and no fixed timetable or stops. Each vehicle collects people who want to travel in roughly the same direction at virtual stops. The booking of a ride is to be made through the MOIA App, where the user can choose a pick-up and drop-off, prices, times, and special services (like wheelchair accessibility option).
Intended Users
Benefits
For public transport users who travel in a wheelchair, changing buses is a hurdle and/or often the end of the journey, especially if lifts are faulty or if there are no ramps on the connecting busses. Accessible ride-pooling services like MOIA, presents a solution to these challenges, in the form of greater accessibility because of barrier-free transportation and higher proximity to the virtual stops, and also unnecessary vehicle change-over. These two features are extremely beneficial to physically or cognitive impaired users, who do not enjoy the same seamless and barrier-free experience in the public transport network. In addition, it is emission-free local travel which contributes to a greener, less polluting environment.
User Engagement Strategy
MOIA favours participation and regularly holds workshops with various target groups: associations, families, people with visual impairments, people with limited mobility. The wishes and findings from the workshops were incorporated, for example, into the design of the seats, the access door for wheelchairs to the vehicle, and also many of the features visible in the app.
Service Details
Service in Hamburg begins at 5 am. until 1 am. from Mondays to Thursdays. In Hanover service is provided Mondays from 7 am. until 11pm., Fridays from 7 am. until 4 am., Saturdays from 10 am. until 4 am., and finally Sundays from 10 am. until 10 pm.
In the MOIA app, users can indicate in their profile, under accessibility, that they need more time to walk to the virtual assigned stop, have impaired vision or are a wheelchair user. This ensures that the necessary assistance is provided.
Financial Details
The price of the service consists of two components: a basis price, and a flexible price. This allows for flexible reaction to demand with the limited number of vehicles and drivers. If there are fewer MOIAs available than requested, price will increase. This is usually the case on Friday and Saturday nights. If demand is lower, then the price will be lower too. This way empty MOIA vehicles on the streets are avoided and maximum efficiency ensured.
Jennifer Langfeldt, Press Officer MOIA
"From the very beginning, we have sought contact with our passengers, enquired about their needs and developed solutions for them in co-creative processes. "
Hamburg, Germany
About the Service Providers
MOIA is an independent company of the Volkswagen Group with locations in Berlin and Hamburg, which operates its own ridepooling service in Hamburg and Hanover. The company was founded in 2016 and develops mobility services independently or in partnership with cities and existing transport systems.
The focus is on ridepooling and the development of its software and hardware, and also integrates autonomous driving into a holistic and collaborative approach, aiming to offer a convenient, affordable, and environmentally sustainable alternative to car ownership.
The company focuses solely on Hamburg and Hanover by developing a "blueprint" of how ridepooling can be best integrated into the urban mobility as a sustainable alternative, by constantly evaluating expansion, improving efficiency, optimizing services, and investigating autonomous ridepooling in new cities with simulation models.
Find More Information
MOIAs Official Website
Help Center MOIA
Aktion Mensch (Inclusive Mobility) Official Website
MOIA – Volkswagen Group