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| Mobility (Swiss carsharing cooperative) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Mobility |
| Type | Cooperative |
| Industry | Carsharing |
| Founded | 1997 |
| Founder | Swiss Federal Railways; PostAuto Schweiz |
| Headquarters | Baar, Switzerland |
| Area served | Switzerland, Liechtenstein |
| Key people | Reto Gurtner; Ruth Wolfer |
| Products | Carsharing, vansharing, e-mobility |
| Members | 200,000+ |
Mobility (Swiss carsharing cooperative) is a Swiss cooperative operating a nationwide carsharing and mobility service. Founded through a partnership of Swiss transport and postal institutions, the cooperative integrates with rail and public transit networks to provide shared vehicles across urban and rural areas. Mobility's model intersects with themes from the transportation industry, environmental policy, and cooperative governance.
Mobility traces origins to collaborations among Swiss Federal Railways, PostAuto Schweiz, and regional transport companies in the late 20th century, responding to trends established by organizations such as Zipcar, Car2Go, and Greenwheels. Early pilots in cantons like Zurich and Bern resembled experiments by Transport for London and influenced modal-integration discussions at forums attended by delegations from European Commission transport directorates. The cooperative structure was formalized in response to cooperative movements exemplified by Co-operative Union models in the United Kingdom and credit cooperatives like Raiffeisen Group. Expansion through the 2000s paralleled projects by Toyota and Renault on shared mobility and placed Mobility in dialogues with municipal actors in Geneva, Basel, and Lausanne.
Mobility operates an integrated service network comparable to systems operated by Avis Budget Group subsidiaries and aligns scheduling practices with timetables from Swiss Federal Railways and regional rail operators such as BLS AG. Services include round-trip bookings, station-based carsharing similar to models by Communauto, and vansharing comparable to offerings by U-Haul in North America. Mobility partners with municipal governments like City of Zurich and private firms including Siemens for infrastructure projects and collaborates with payment providers such as Mastercard and Twint for user transactions. Operations emphasize interoperability with mobility platforms developed by companies like Google and Apple via APIs and data exchanges with regional mobility-as-a-service projects in Canton of Vaud.
The cooperative manages a mixed fleet of compact cars, electric vehicles, and vans sourced from manufacturers including Volkswagen, BMW, Renault, and Tesla, Inc.. Vehicles are equipped with telematics supplied by vendors similar to TomTom and Bosch to enable keyless access and remote diagnostics. Mobility has rolled out electric charging infrastructure in collaboration with providers like Alpiq and EVBox, and integrates fleet management software inspired by systems used by Enterprise Holdings and urban pilot studies with ETH Zurich researchers. Data-driven routing and predictive maintenance draw on methodologies popularized by research groups at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and University of Zurich.
Membership follows cooperative principles akin to Co-operative Group societies and requires registration comparable to enrollment processes for services such as CarNext. Pricing structures include hourly and daily tariffs, distance-based charges, and subscription tiers reflecting models used by Zipcar and Hertz 24/7. Members interact via mobile apps that utilize authentication frameworks similar to those deployed by UBS mobile banking and digital identity projects in Switzerland. Special arrangements exist for corporate clients, municipal fleets, and academic partners like University of Geneva and ETH Zurich.
Mobility is organized as a cooperative with a board and general assembly, reflecting governance practices from institutions such as Migros and Coop (retailer). Stakeholders include founding partners like Swiss Federal Railways, local transit companies, and institutional members from cantonal administrations in Canton of Zurich and Canton of Vaud. Strategic oversight engages auditors and consultants from firms akin to PwC and KPMG while policy interfaces involve the Federal Office of Transport (Switzerland) and cantonal transport authorities. Labor relations have engaged unions analogous to Unia (trade union) in collective bargaining for operational staff.
The cooperative emphasizes emissions reduction objectives aligned with commitments from Paris Agreement targets and Swiss federal climate strategies. Fleet electrification and modal substitution aim to reduce private car ownership and vehicle kilometers traveled, echoing findings from studies at Institute for Transport Planning and Systems and Paul Scherrer Institute. Projects with municipal partners in Basel-Stadt and Vaud incorporate bike-and-ride and park-and-ride concepts similar to initiatives by Transport for London and City of Copenhagen. Independent assessments by environmental NGOs and research groups, including those associated with WWF Switzerland and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology researchers, have examined Mobility's lifecycle emissions and urban impacts.
Mobility has received recognition from industry and civic bodies analogous to awards given by European Mobility Week and national innovation prizes administered by Swiss Innovation Forum. The cooperative's initiatives have been highlighted in reports by organizations such as International Transport Forum and case studies at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, and it has been cited in comparative analyses alongside companies like Zagster and Communauto in academic conferences hosted by TRB Annual Meeting and ECOMM.
Category:Carsharing