30 years of Stadtmobil Carsharing - How mobility is evolving sustainably and digitally
For 30 years, Stadtmobil has been showing how individual mobility can be flexible, digital and sustainable – without having to own a car. We took a look at what makes car sharing so attractive for many people**.
Mobility has long been more than just covering distances. It is a reflection of social, technological and ecological developments – and is subject to constant change. One concept that has become indispensable in this area is car sharing – and Stadtmobil has been one of the pioneers in this field for 30 years now. What began as a small initiative in 1995 is now a mainstay of modern, sustainable mobility.
The idea for Stadtmobil was anything but born out of necessity – it was a conscious decision for a different understanding of mobility. “The founders of stadtmobil Karlsruhe wanted to invest their time and energy in a meaningful project and were convinced that the topic of ‘individual mobility’ had a lot of potential for optimization. Personal idealism was clearly the driving force here,” says Managing Director Anja Orth.
The objective was clear from the outset: to reduce private car ownership, conserve resources and at the same time offer flexible, needs-based solutions. This principle has since proven its worth – not only in large cities, but increasingly also in smaller towns and rural regions.
Today, Stadtmobil operates a fleet of almost 2,000 vehicles, spread across more than 500 stations. The vehicles range from small cars for quick shopping trips to vans or nine-seaters for family outings. For many people, car sharing is therefore a fully-fledged alternative to owning a car – with no running costs, no obligations, but with full access to mobility.
Digitization as the key to ease of use
A key success factor for car sharing lies in the consistent digitalization of the user experience. Anyone booking a car with Stadtmobil today does not have to call or go to the office. “The entire process can be carried out easily and digitally via smartphone, regardless of restrictive factors such as opening hours,” explains Orth. A vehicle can be found, reserved, opened and later returned with just a few clicks.
The digital process goes beyond just booking. The costs are also displayed transparently in the app, damage reports are easy to submit and changes to the booking can be made flexibly. This low-threshold user experience makes car sharing an attractive option for many users – especially in an everyday life that increasingly demands spontaneity and flexibility.
In addition, those who value cost predictability also benefit. Billing is based exactly on usage – if you drive less, you pay less. “All technical maintenance and vehicle care is eliminated. Tire changes. MOT appointments, inspections at the manufacturer, repairs, rising insurance rates or nasty surprises in the 4-digit range when collecting the car from the garage – these are all things that our users only know from the past,” says Orth.
What’s more, the vehicles in the fleet are on average only 2.5 years old and meet modern safety and environmental standards. Thanks to frequent use – sometimes three bookings per day – each vehicle is optimally utilized. This is efficient, saves resources and avoids unnecessary parking space requirements.
Car sharing as a smart city component
In addition, car sharing also plays a key role in the context of the smart city – because smart cities think about transportation holistically, in a resource-saving and data-based way. It not only reduces the number of vehicles on the roads, but also increasingly networks with other mobility services and digital infrastructures. Stadtmobil shows what this integration can look like in practice.
According to Stadtmobil, a single car sharing vehicle can replace up to 16 private cars. This not only creates more space for cycle paths, green areas and meeting spaces, but also reduces emissions and noise in densely populated areas. At the same time, modern car sharing fleets offer the opportunity to analyze traffic data, understand usage patterns and dynamically adapt services – a decisive advantage for city planners and mobility providers alike.
In this way, mobility becomes an intelligent network – individually usable, but collectively conceived.
More mobility with fewer possessions
Nevertheless, car sharing has yet to make a major breakthrough – at least nationwide. The reasons for this are complex. On the one hand, there is still a lack of alternatives to owning a car in many regions; on the other hand, people’s habits are deeply ingrained. Anja Orth puts it in a nutshell: “Generally speaking, the better public transport, cycle paths and the general conditions for managing everyday life without a car are, the more attractive it is to do without a car and replace the remaining vehicle requirements with car sharing.”
This means that car sharing works best as part of a comprehensive mobility offer. When bus, rail, cycling and sharing systems work well together, dependency on your own car is significantly reduced. In such systems, car sharing is not seen as a substitute, but as a supplement – for special situations, for spontaneous trips or longer journeys.
Interestingly, Stadtmobil is also seeing growing interest in rural areas. More and more local authorities are creating local services – not least to increase the attractiveness of their communities. “We at Stadtmobil Karlsruhe, for example, are represented with vehicles in smaller towns such as Karlsbad, Remchingen, Au am Rhein and Durmersheim,” reports Orth. This shows that With the right framework conditions, a new mobility culture can also be established outside the city limits.
In addition to classic station-based car sharing, Stadtmobil also offers a particularly flexible variant with the “stadtflitzer” free-floating model. Vehicles can be used and parked without a fixed return station – ideal for spontaneous trips within the city.
Cover picture: Stadtmobil / Daniel Foltin