World Premiere in the Bavarian Forest: a Town and Start-Up door2door Driving into the Future Together

BERLIN, LEIPZIG and FREYUNG, Germany, May 31, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

A cooperation between the district capital of Freyung and Berlin tech company door2door is introducing Germany's first on-demand local public transport system in a rural area, the "Freyung Shuttle". Local public transport services will be expanded by small shuttle buses that can be ordered on-the-go via a smartphone app for passengers sharing their rides. The "Freyung Shuttle" manages all of this without any kind of schedule or fixed routes. The technology calculates the optimal routes and best use of the fleet, enabling people to travel from door to door quickly and efficiently while being gentle on the environment. A corresponding agreement has been signed on Wednesday between door2door founder Maxim Nohroudi and the first mayor of Freyung, Dr. Olaf Heinrich at the International Transport Forum Leipzig in the presence of federal transport minister Alexander Dobrindt. The launch date is mid-September. 

"As is the case with many places in rural areas, the local public transport system in Freyung  is currently unable to optimally serve the needs of its residents", emphasizes the mayor, Dr. Olaf Heinrich. "Together with door2door, we are creating a digital service enabling people to get from A to B comfortably and easily. We are convinced that this will help us to greatly improve the quality of our mobility while, at the same time, reducing costs for local public transport."

Residents can conveniently order the "Freyung Shuttle" with a smartphone app by entering their origin and destination. They will be informed beforehand about the cost of the trip, maximum travel time, and how long it will take for the shuttle to come and pick them up. They can then track with the app how the vehicle travels to the pick-up point. Passengers are transported door to door by qualified drivers. An intelligent algorithm in the background calculates the ideal route and optimal rideshare for getting all passengers to their individual destinations quickly and comfortably. The vehicles and drivers are deployed by local operators.

The new service is based on the door2door mobility platform. The platform enables local authorities and transport companies to, for the first time, operate new mobility services autonomously and independently, to integrate them into existing transport infrastructures,  and perform a detailed analysis of supply and demand in their existing mobility services.  "With this technology, we want to give local authorities and transport companies significantly greater freedom, flexibility and most of all autonomy in the design of their local mobility", explained door2door founder Maxim Nohroudi upon signing the cooperation agreement in Leipzig. "Especially in rural areas, the quality of life has always been closely linked with having a privately-owned car. In Freyung we are able to demonstrate that there are real alternatives today, and that a sustainable mobility option that gives the public completely new types of freedom is possible."

A video about Germany's first "on-demand local public transport system" in a rural area is available here on YouTube, and photos illustrating this report and of the International Transport Forum Leipzig are attached.

About door2door: 

door2door is a multi-award-winning technology company. At their core is a mobility platform that enables local authorities and transportation companies to introduce, and independently operate, new digital services. Established in 2012 by Dr. Tom Kirschbaum and Maxim Nohroudi, the company today employs more than 100 people from 20 countries. The company's power of innovation prompted a visit from Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel.

http://www.door2door.io

blog.door2door.io

About the District City of Freyung: 

The City of Freyung (7,300 citizens) is a district city in rural Lower Bavaria. At the beginning of the 2000s, the city was supported as a "virtual community model" by the Free State of Bavaria in the context of introducing state-of-the-art administrative systems and has taken a pioneering role ever since. Mayor Dr. Olaf Heinrich (in office since April 1, 2008) and the City Council of Freyung unanimously agreed on the cooperation with door2door on Monday, May 29, 2017.

Printable illustrations and other background information are available for download at: https://www.door2door.io/press.html. If you are interested in an interview or require additional information, please get in touch with one of the following contacts:

Contact door2door
Lidia Fabian
Senior Communications Manager
E-mail: [email protected]  | Tel: +49-177-75-47-205

Contact district town of Freyung
Gudrun Binder
Outer mayor's office, district town of Freyung
E-mail: [email protected]  |  Tel: +49-08551-588-110

SOURCE door2door