Top 5 actions to boost your carpooling launch
Let’s be clear: if setting up a carpooling service may seem easy, turning it into a success is much harder! Today, carpooling represents only 3% of the modal share in France and even less in other European countries, while 60% of people say they are ready to share their vehicle if it added less than 15% to their travel time while reducing their cost according to the McKinsey ACES 2020 consumer survey.
And this is where the challenge lies, and which differentiates an efficient carpooling operator from a standard solution, which would offer a medium service with little customisation and support. So what are the secrets of Karos Mobility to make carpooling a success?
Top 1 – The creation of a real carpooling action plan
The first step to making your carpooling project a success is to appoint a carpooling manager who is sensitive to the company’s issues and who will be ready to get involved in the good development of the project. Once this has been decided, it is important to take time with a mobility consultant in order to define together a concrete and time-bound action plan. This carpooling deployment plan will have to take into account the specificities of the company (schedules, purchasing power of the employees, distance between home and work, advantages) or the territory (transport offer…)
Top 2 – On-site promotion
On-site promotions are very useful to raise awareness and answer practical questions and concerns of users and more particularly of employees of a partner company. Above all, they make it possible to generate a large number of subscribers at the same time and to build a critical mass of carpoolers. Different forms of promotions can be imagined by varying the type of actions and the number of people involved (larger or smaller groups, with different objectives).
On-site promotion in EPF Troyes (France)
On-site promotion at Neuman & Esser (Germany)
Top 3 – The organisation of exclusive events
The Karos Mobility Enterprise/Territory solution offers to organize internal events to encourage users to carpool. The timing is very important in order to reach a maximum of people and it is recommended to prepare it well with your mobility expert. This feature is available to companies as well as to local authorities.
For example, between May 16 and June 19, 2022, the agglomeration of Saint-Lô offered a contest to win a vacation week for 4 people to a user of the territory who will have carpooled during this period.
As another example, in Denmark, in order to encourage students in the municipality of Hillerød and the Hovedstaden region, tickets for the Roskilde festival were given to a student from U/North who made more than 250 trips on the app!
Presentation of the prize to the winner of the carpooling competition by Ta’Med
Top 4 – Implementation of strong incentives
Whether it is through the 6 months of journeys offered by Karos in France, the sustainable mobility package, or subsidies from the territories, partial or total financing of carpools can make a difference. We have seen this since the beginning of the year. In Ile de France, free carpooling for all holders of the Navigo pass and the 100€ offered for drivers have led to an explosion in results. Similarly, many companies such as Saint-Gobain have decided to set up a sustainable mobility package thanks to the application after having seen the benefits of carpooling.
In Germany, Goflux offers free or very low-cost rides in the Bonn region thanks to the participation of the Sparkasse Bonn bank. Some companies also participate in paying for their employees’ journeys, or even entirely in the case of the Foschungcentrum Julich, for example, which is now one of the companies that carpool the most, with almost 5,300 trips registered in less than six months.
In Denmark, the city of Hillerød also offers free rides to its students in order to encourage them to travel to their campus in a more ecologically.
Top 5 – Communication tailored to the partner
Numerous communication actions can also help to make the solution known to a maximum of people and thus to increase the number of carpools. Among the possible actions are the classic communication kits (e.g. posters in the company, social networks) but also more original actions specific to each company such as the installation of a Karos Mobility wallpaper on company computers or placemats with a personalized message. But ultimately the most important thing is to be as creative as possible 😉
Conclusion
It is important to understand that each company and even each site have their own problems. We are convinced that it is not enough to apply the same process every time to guarantee the success of a carpooling launch. And finally, the support of an expert coupled with the performance of our solution remain the real keys to the success of your mobility project. It is with these parameters that Karos Mobility obtains the best results of carpooling in companies !
