In September 2022, Wiener Linien expanded its e-carsharing segment "WienMobil Auto": A total of 100 vehicles have been available since then. In order to realize this growth, Wiener Linien enlisted the help of the experienced sharing operator sharetoo Carsharing. What makes the service particularly attractive for users is its seamless integration into the Vienna mobility app "WienMobil".
The Cooperation Between Wiener Linien and sharetoo Carsharing
Wiener Linien is the municipal transport company of the Austrian capital Vienna. They have been operating a sharing service since the fall of 2020, initially with 28 e-cars. From this grew the motivation to offer the Vienna society a comprehensive car sharing service and to make mobility in Vienna even safer and more sustainable.
In order to implement this, they found an experienced partner in sharetoo Carsharing. sharetoo Carsharing sees the purely electric sharing offer as the perfect complement to the public transport network of Wiener Linien. The company already operates carsharing services in various Austrian communities and is now opening up another - extremely attractive - location in the capital.
By the way, users of WienMobil Auto also benefit. With just one account, they have Austria-wide access to all sharetoo carsharing vehicles.
About sharetoo Carsharing
Based on the slogan "Use instead of own", sharetoo, Porsche Bank's car sharing service, makes the latest e-models from the VW Group available to registered users. Purely electric car sharing is being continuously expanded: Around 200 vehicles can now be booked in around 30 towns and cities in Austria.
Station-based e-carsharing is operated by Porsche Bank subsidiary ARAC and is not only available to private individuals, but also offers customized services for companies, housing developers, cities and municipalities that want to promote sustainable mobility in their community.
Available All Over Vienna at WienMobil Stations
Currently, WienMobil Auto's range consists of electric small cars and comfort cars such as the Cupra Born or the Skoda Enyaq, as well as VW ID.4. In March 2023, the vans ID. Buzz People and ID. Buzz Cargo, which can be used, for example, for relocations.
The vehicles are available at WienMobil stations - the mobility stations of the City of Vienna. This is where the classic services of Wiener Linien, such as the subway, bus and "Bim", the streetcar, are gathered. In addition, there are sharing services such as WienMobil's own car and bike sharing, as well as external sharing services for cars, bicycles, scooters, cargo bikes and mopeds.
Mobility stations: Placing offers where mobility happens →
In the upcoming years, the number of mobility stations will be gradually increased and each will be equipped with an individual mobility offer. WienMobil cars are always returned to the station where they were picked up. This increases reliability and predictability. Users can reserve a car in advance and thus rely on availability at the desired location at the desired time.
Highly Visible Thanks to Integration in the WienMobil App
The carsharing service operated by Wiener Linien and sharetoo is not only part of the local mobility mix at the physical mobility stations, but also in the WienMobil app.
The WienMobil app
The WienMobil app is the official mobility app of Wiener Linien. It bundles all mobility services that are usually also found at WienMobil stations: public transport, car sharing, micro mobility sharing, rental cars and cab services.
The app also shows disruptions and real-time data of public transport as well as locations of mobility stations, parking lots and charging stations. Users can book tickets for public transport and calculate routes via the app. In addition, the app also shows possible combinations of different means of transport as well as the options of walking, using your own bike or your own car.
Accordingly, the WienMobil app is an essential factor in the effort to make Vienna's mobility more sustainable and future-proof.
The locations of WienMobil Auto vehicles can be viewed at any time in the WienMobil app. Users can also see:
information about the model and vehicle class incl. drive, transmission type, number of seats
the current charge status
a short info about the possible tariffs
There is also a notice that regular customers of Wiener Linien receive a 10% discount on all rates. To book a vehicle, users are redirected to the sharetoo car sharing app.
And this is where it gets exciting: Anyone who has registered with the WienMobil app does not have to register again with sharetoo Carsharing (and other mobility partners). Instead, the required account data is automatically forwarded to sharetoo Carsharing via a deep link in the single sign-on process, so that bookings can be made there without having to register or log in again.
Technical requirements: Aggregator API
The WienMobil app is an aggregator app that technically bundles various mobility offers. In order to link the own sharing offer with it, an aggregator API is required. This API allows the aggregator to get information about the vehicles and to offer the offers to users in its own name.
The aggregator, in this case the WienMobil app or Wiener Linien, is responsible for the customer journey, tariffs and payment processing. Accordingly, they are also responsible for verifying the authorization to rent a vehicle and for validating the driver's license.
This makes the user experience uncomplicated and easily accessible, first and foremost for the end customer. One current challenge is to bundle different services in a city in a meaningful way without users needing a separate app for each type of mobility. Thanks to aggregators, multimodal mobility is made possible and the increasing renunciation of one's own car becomes more attractive.
sharetoo Carsharing as a sharing operator also benefits from the WienMobil app as an aggregator. This is because the latter already brings along its own customer base, which now has uncomplicated access to its own offering. This is a crucial point that makes the cooperation with Wiener Linien worthwhile for sharetoo Carsharing.
A Successful Start Whets the Appetite for the Future
The first figures since the launch on September 1, 2022 already show that Wiener Linien and sharetoo Carsharing are on the right track with their cooperation: In the first five months, a total of more than 9,000 people registered for the carsharing service. In the first month, there were more than 4,000 people, and in October and November there were still more than 1,000. On average, users made more than 3,000 bookings per month up to and including January 2023.
This volume shows that the service is well received in Vienna - and that good integration into the local mobility mix appears to be a valuable success factor.
