Vitoria-Gasteiz: Implementing a carpooling network
The Challenge
Vitoria aims to address solo car commuting due to its environmental impact and the associated carbon emissions. With 40,000 daily trips to industrial estates, the city recognises the need to reduce unnecessary car usage, minimise emissions, and transition towards sustainable urban mobility. The city seeks to change commuting habits, improve environmental sustainability, and optimise daily journeys, contributing to a more eco-friendly and efficient transportation system in Vitoria-Gasteiz.
The Solution
Karos Mobility's carpooling system in Vitoria has been instrumental in overcoming the challenge of solo car commuting. The app facilitates the matching of drivers and passengers heading in the same direction, effectively reducing the number of cars on the road. By incentivising shared mobility through financial rewards for drivers and optimising routes using artificial intelligence, Karos Mobility encouraged commuters to share rides, making the daily trips more cost-effective, efficient, and environmentally friendly.
Making an impact
The pilot project with EIT Urban Mobility resulted in a significant reduction of carbon emissions (11 tonnes of CO2 were saved), showcasing the positive impact of Karos Mobility on Vitoria's sustainable urban mobility goals.
- More than 6,000 carpool rides were done and 870 users have been registered in a span of three months.
- 181 carpoolers
- The application has been adapted to Spanish market and user. The app was translated into Spanish and Basque (the regional language) and a website to present the service has also been developed in both languages.
- Additionally, Spanish user support avatar (Carmen) and ticketing platform to answer users’ requests have been created.
Lessons learnt
Communication campaigns have been implemented before and during the launch of the pilot and marketing material has been created and distributed. Also, at the later stage of the pilot, Karos Mobility Carpooling system onboarded 8 companies during the project located in Jundiz and PTA (Alava Technology Park) - Eroski, Orona, Safe Meta, Frionorte, Mobility Lab, Dorlet, Aernnova - to accelerate the adoption by users. All of this was a success factor for the project and contributed to the overall positive performance of the pilot.