As every month, find our selection of the latest news in the mobility and transport sector. In July, intermodality was the focus. From the launch of new intermodal offers in the travel industry with EasyJet or Kayak, to the integration of new shared mobility services on Citymapper, Moovit & FREE NOW applications, discover in detail the specificities of these new features.
Strategic partnership between Easyjet & Deutsche Bahn
While the French airline Air France announced last month 7 new SNCF train connections in its Air-Fer offer, it is EasyJet’s turn to enter this niche. The low-cost airline announced on July 17 that it has joined forces with the German railway company Deutsche Bahn as part of its “Worldwide by easyJet” program. This is a first for EasyJet, which is used to working with airlines in its program.
Directly accessible at the time of booking the flight, travelers can choose between a long-distance or regional DB train, based on an economy or flexible fare. With this new partnership, they offer their passengers the opportunity to easily reach various German cities from Berlin airport. These include Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig, Dresden, Erfurt, Hannover and Wolfsburg. The future goal is to add more German cities and airports to the program.
The integration of Getaround on the Kayak website
Let’s stay in the travel industry with one of the pioneers of search engines. Namely Kayak which announced in early July a strategic partnership with a first car-sharing service Getaround. Directly from Kayak’s website, users will be able to book from thousands of Getaround vehicles in more than 300 cities in France.
Previously, the search engine only included car rentals. This initiative was prompted by the fact that Kayak has observed a sharp increase in both searches and prices for traditional car rentals in Europe. With an exponential increase in 2021 compared to 2019: searches by about 121% and average prices by about 60% (*Figure based on car rental searches in Europe conducted on KAYAK.com between June 10 and June 24, 2021).
Our goal is to give our users access to a wide range of travel and mobility providers that meet their needs and expectations. Getaround, with its affordable and strategically located car-sharing services, perfectly embodies our goal.
JOHN-LEE SAEZ, DIRECTOR OF KAYAK EUROPE
The reservation of SHARE NOW’s cars on the FREE NOW app
Booking a car-sharing on the multimodal application FREE NOW is soon possible! Indeed, the 11,000 vehicles of the German car manufacturer Daimler will be integrated into the application of the BMW group. As part of a European agreement, this new feature will be progressively available in sixteen major cities in Europe, from the end of July.
As stated by SHARE NOW CEO Olivier Reppert in the release, “This is a big step forward for us. Thanks to this partnership, we can offer our service to even more people in Germany, France, Italy and Spain. Car sharing has become an integral part of today’s urban mobility that offers people the flexibility and reliability they need to get around.”
This new partnership complements Freenow’s already diverse offering. The new partnership complements Freenow’s already diverse offering of cab, VTC, scooter, electric bike and scooter services, strongly reinforcing its recent positioning in the MaaS (Mobility as a Service) market.
People want the flexibility to travel from A to B – and that need has even increased after most pandemic-related restrictions were lifted. With SHARE NOW, we are meeting that need. We look forward to many more partner companies in the future. Whether it’s in carsharing or other multi-mobility options.
MARC BERG, CEO of FREE NOW
Geolocation of TIER scooters on Moovit
After integrating a new feature allowing public transport users to know the flow of passengers, Moovit continues to improve the mobility experience of these users. This time, it is on the side of its offer that there is an evolution. Recognized as a leader in MaaS, the latter announced on July 6 a new partnership with the European leader of micro-mobility services TIER. With the objective of covering the first and last kilometers of these users.
As highlighted by Yovav Meydad, Moovit’s head of development and marketing, “Offering more alternative means of transportation that can easily get people to their destination is an essential element of any MaaS platform.” Indeed, users of the mobility app will be able to find the location and availability of the nearest scooters in real-time.
A new feature currently deployed in nearly 77 cities in 14 different countries. Including France, Great Britain, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Poland, Qatar, Slovakia, Emirates, Sweden and Switzerland.
The arrival of Zoov bikes on Citymapper
Created 4 years ago, Zoov is now a European reference in the self-service electric bicycle sector. A player in sustainable mobility that has just signed a new partnership with Citymapper. From now on, Parisians and Bordeaux residents will have access to the location of shared electric bikes. And this, directly on the route application.
As announced by Zoov co-founder Amira Haberah, “Zoov’s electric bikes are used extensively to and from RER stations. This partnership with Citymapper will allow even more travelers to discover this complementarity and the attractions of electric bikes on the first and last kilometers of their daily routes.”
However, it is important to specify that the reservation is not made directly on the Citymapper application. Indeed, the user is redirected to the Zoov application. On which he will only have to scan the QR code located on the bike to unlock it. Not the most optimal user experience, but very encouraging in a MaaS approach.
