Individually on the road together
PubliCar, Kollibri, PubliBike – PostBus continues to expand its range of individual public transport services. Even a British taxi has come along for the ride. What these services have in common is the idea of sharing.
On-demand services and sharing solutions make it possible to book individual journeys on public transport and share them with others. “In poorly connected regions in particular, on-demand solutions can be a useful supplement to the existing range of scheduled services and offer added value,” says Martina Müggler, Head of Strategy & Innovation at PostBus. That is why PostBus is developing and testing a wide range of services for on-demand transport.
On the road with a door-to-door shuttle or by bike
Following the positive response to the Kollibri pilot project around Brugg, PostBus conducted further tests in 2020, introducing the ability to order the door-to-door shuttle by smartphone app in July. This was initially available in the Verzasca valley, and from August in the Brig region, and allowed other passengers to board en route. The vehicle: a London taxi with an electric drive, in the PostBus livery and offering seating for six people. The experience gained with the Kollibri software was also harnessed to modernize the PubliCar service: in the Appenzell region, the PubliCar on-demand bus system introduced for sparsely populated areas in 1995 now allows journeys to be booked with an app.
Another of Swiss Post’s mobility sharing services is PubliBike. The company has established itself in eight regions of Switzerland, with a total of 500 stations for the self-hire of 5,000 bicycles and e‑bikes. The PubliBike App and website show where and how many two-wheelers are available at any given time. “In conjunction with public transport, PubliBike covers the last mile in the transport chain,” says CEO Markus Bacher. The service is also popular with companies that encourage employee mobility.
PubliBike promotes the professional and social integration of those who are unemployed: in various networks, job seekers carry out bicycle repairs or replace batteries for PubliBike.
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