Demonstration City: Hamburg
Inform
The Hamburg demonstration action provided tools and different types of knowledge products for the SOLUTIONSplus online toolbox, addressing the knowledge gaps identified in the course of the project. Moreover, a site visit to an e-bus depot in Hamburg was arranged in the context of the 2022 SOLUTIONSplus General Assembly.
Examples of open-access knowledge products created and published include presentations on public transport and MaaS in Hamburg, the e-scooter project, and the integration of shared e-mobility into the transport system.
Inspire
Back-to-back with the 2022 SOLUTIONSplus General Assembly, 30 participants visited a e-bus depot at Hamburger Hochbahn, and to test the e-scooters in the demonstration areas. During the guided tour, participants from Asian, South American, African, and European cities were introduced into requirements and infrastructure to upgrade a depot for diesel buses into an e-bus depot. After that, participants were transferred to one public transport station in the demonstration area. In order to gain practical experience with shared micro-vehicles, participants took the opportunity to transfer to a second public transport station in the demonstration area on e-kick scooters.
Capacity-building activities comprised a comprehensive online workshop on the 5th & 6th of May 2022 to exchange experiences on shared e-mobility. The course was jointly organised by SOLUTIONSplus and MOBI-MIX. Topics covered the main challenges cities are facing with regards to new and shared e-mobility. Participants considered approaches to regulate new mobility offers (i.e. number of operators, providing parking); the integration of new mobility services into the collective transport system; and public-private cooperation. The 2-days online event gathered European frontrunners in the field of shared micro-mobility, including 13 cities and local authorities and several public transport and micro-mobility operators.
Regarding the electrification of Hamburg’s taxi fleet, T-Systems and Polis organized the City Dialogue which took place on September 15th, 2021. The event gathered representatives from the city of Hamburg, the Taxi Association, several German cities and SOLUTIONSplus partners (UMEI, Wuppertal Institute, Polis) to discuss Hamburg’s initiative to electrifying the taxi fleet. The session was organised in under the City Dialogues Initiative promoted by the World Economic Forum Zero Emission Urban Fleets and the SOLUTIONSPlus project.
Initiate
Based on a public tender process, HOCHBAHN selected TIER mobility as provider and operator of shared e-kick-scooters TIER received a seed funding for implementing the scooters in the in the two demonstration areas in Lokstedt and Langenhorn. Already during the demonstration project, TIER mobility increased the number of vehicles in the area from the initially agreed 100 to up to 400. The operator also decided to continue its service even after the demonstration period ended. Additionally, several other providers of shared e-micro-vehicles followed and are currently active in the area.
The Zukunftstaxi project is an initiative of the city of Hamburg and the taxi sector. It aims at electrifying the the City’s taxi fleet. The project is accompanied by a bi-weekly meeting with taxi owners and fleet operators. SOLUTIONSplus partner T-Systems fosters the replication in other cities and regions to ensure the long-term sustainability.
Implement
The first e-kick-scooters were introduced in the demonstration areas of Lokstedt and Langenhorn in June 2021. HOCHBAHN designating dedicated parking zones at Metro stations. Throughout the testing period, spanning from June 2021 to the end of August 2022, over 160,000 business trips were completed, with an average distance of 1.7 km. This robust usage affirms the high demand for the service. A user survey that was carried out during the demonstration activity found that one third of all scooter rides were part of intermodal travel chains. Up to 400 e-scooters were deployed in the demonstration areas, surpassing the initially planned fleet of 200 vehicles. TIER Mobility has expressed its commitment to continue providing service in the demonstration areas beyond the project's scheduled duration. Notably, other e-scooter providers have followed, expanding their service areas to include the demonstration sites.
T-Systems initiated and coordinated the electrification of the taxi fleet together with the city of Hamburg. The demonstration project shows the potential to reuse the existing telecommunication infrastructure and the electricity distribution network of a telecom operator for the electrification of car fleets. After 18 months of the project the e-taxis fleet in Hamburg increased from 2 to 400. An emission reduction of 3000tons per year could be reached. ComfortCharge installed the charging infrastructure at the premises of Deutsche Telekom. T-Systems brought together all stakeholders, including car manufactures, taxi operators, taxi fleet management software companies, advertising companies and the German taxi association.
Preliminary Results
02/2023
Impact
In the context of the e-scooter demonstration project, comprehensive data was collected to inform potential scale-up initiatives. Vehicle data and a user survey unveiled seasonal fluctuations, with February registering the fewest trips and August recording the highest number of trips. The peak demand occurred during the morning and late afternoon, indicating that e-scooters were predominantly used for commuting rather than leisure activities. The start and end points of trips were concentrated in parking zones around metro stations. The user survey corroborated that e-scooters were integrated into intermodal travel chains, serving as the first and last mile connections to public transport stations.
Simultaneously, the e-taxi project and charging activities in Hamburg incorporated the integration of a Low Carbon Mobility Monitoring (LCMM) tool to measure the fuel or electricity consumption and emissions of taxis. Over the first 18 months of the Zukunftstaxi project, it was demonstrated that eco-driving practices could result in savings of 10-15% in fuel consumption or electricity.
Ultimately, this approach aims to increase the number of residents with access to different kinds of mobility services, achieve the most effective mobility mix in the city, and support Hamburg in reaching its climate protection goals.
Replicability
More and more cities worldwide have begun regulating the provision and use of shared e-micro-vehicles. This includes parking regulations, but also the availability of shared vehicles in the entire urban area and the integration with collective transport systems. The demonstration activity is in line with this trend and can potentially be replicated, or inform similar approaches, in other cities.
The demonstration project tested the conditions under which last-mile mobility solutions, such as e-scooters, can be successfully linked to public transport in urban outskirts. The demonstration activity helped Hochbahn AG and the city to gather practical experiences with this type of vehicle and driving technology. The city of Hamburg plans to replicate similar facilities at additional metro and subway stations, both within and outside the city centre. A '100 parking spaces for e-kick-scooters' programme is currently being developed as part of the hvv switch points (mobility hubs). The aim is to establish a strategic network of parking zones in combination with surrounding no-parking areas to prevent inappropriate parking of e-kick-scooters. In the city centre, the focus is on organising parking to increase the acceptance of micro-mobility services, while in the outer districts, the focus is on improving first/last mile mobility and providing additional mobility options.
Interview with Karen van der Linde and Dominik Radzuweit from the SOLUTIONSplus city partner Hamburger Hochbahn AG
SOLUTIONSplus project? (Hochbahn & Tier)
Can you tell us a bit more about the e-scooter initiative in the framework of the
Within the SOLUTIONSplus framework we provide and implement an e-scooter-sharing-service for last mile connectivity, especially in two outskirt areas (Hamburg-Lokstedt and Hamburg-Langenhorn). In Hamburg, the available e-Scooter services are focused on the extended inner-city area. We would like to broaden this mobility service in the outskirt areas to evaluate the potential of e-scooter as a feeder traffic to public transport. The objectives of the demonstration action are to increase the attractiveness of public transport and to drive a stronger integration of e-scooters with the public transport system. Furthermore, the integration of e-scooter sharing with the public transport system can create an alternative to private car use for the first- and last mile mobility.
How are we doing that? We have set up physical parking zones at 4 of our metro stations (U Hagenbecks Tierpark, U Hagendeel, U Langenhorn Nord, U Kiwittsmoor). There, the passenger has the opportunity to park the e-scooter in an orderly manner in the parking zone. For each correct parking of the scooter in the parking zone, the passenger receives 5 bonus minutes. This e-scooter-project is planned for 12 months.
Can you tell us a bit more about the e-scooter initiative in the framework of the SOLUTIONSplus project? (Hochbahn & Tier)
Within the SOLUTIONSplus framework we provide and implement an e-scooter-sharing-service for last mile connectivity, especially in two outskirt areas (Hamburg-Lokstedt and Hamburg-Langenhorn). In Hamburg, the available e-Scooter services are focused on the extended inner-city area. We would like to broaden this mobility service in the outskirt areas to evaluate the potential of e-scooter as a feeder traffic to public transport. The objectives of the demonstration action are to increase the attractiveness of public transport and to drive a stronger integration of e-scooters with the public transport system. Furthermore, the integration of e-scooter sharing with the public transport system can create an alternative to private car use for the first- and last mile mobility.
How are we doing that? We have set up physical parking zones at 4 of our metro stations (U Hagenbecks Tierpark, U Hagendeel, U Langenhorn Nord, U Kiwittsmoor). There, the passenger has the opportunity to park the e-scooter in an orderly manner in the parking zone. For each correct parking of the scooter in the parking zone, the passenger receives 5 bonus minutes. This e-scooter-project is planned for 12 months.
What are the main challenges concerning mobility in Hamburg that the service/demo addresses? (Hochbahn & Tier)
In Hamburg we do have a variety of mobility services and passengers have various possibilities to move around the city. Intermodal travel chains gain in importance and thereby an integrated offer of all services available is crucial for customer experiences. The classical public transportation modes (metro and busses) need to merge with new mobility services. HOCHBAHN therefore is developing an integrated app to combine all mobility offers in the city. The integration of the e-scooter provider TIER is part of the project scope within SOLUTIONSplus. Moreover, we can see that the complementary mobility providers focusing their business area on the inner-city area. With our project we want to enable people living in the outskirt areas to use the e-scooter service for first-/ last mile connectivity and thereby improve accessibility to public transport stations.
How does your participation in SOLUTIONSplus help achieving your city’s sustainability goals? (Hochbahn)
The transformation of the mobility system is high on the political agenda in Hamburg. In order to achieve Hamburg's ambitious climate protection goals and advance the mobility transition, we need the best possible mobility mix in the city. These mobility services must be available for the greatest possible number of citizens in the city and the outskirt area. The demo project will help to test under which conditions last mile mobility solutions like e-scooters can work out in the outskirt and thereby also enable the city to gain more experiences with this kind of vehicle and drive technology.