Hamburger Hochbahn planning multi-storey mobility hub
Integrated fire safety guidelines elaborated by HOCHBAHN for their e-bus system is one of the activities from the eBussed Action Plan. These guidelines are extremely relevant to one of their current lighthouse projects, namely the mobility hub next to the commuter train station Veddel located in the south of Hamburg. The hub is going to integrate on 20,000 sq m a bus station/switch point with several other services. The core of the hub will be a depot and workshop for 160 electric buses, charged with 100% renewable energy. Although the fire safety guidelines are of general nature, they are essential for this new depot as it is going to have four storeys which puts more focus on the issue.
The start of construction is envisaged for 2025, bringing into service in 2029. With the buses being parked, charged and maintained in direct vicinity of their actual operations area (no empty trips) reduces the energy demand. Moreover, the hub aims to improve mobility without a private car, concentrating alternative means in one place like bike rental (StadtRAD), MOIA (ride pooling) and car sharing; thus, facilitating multi-modal transport. There will be 600 bike+ride places and a bicycle repair shop.
Additional 8,000 sq m of the hub will be dedicated to other services such as shopping and catering.
An online dialogue and a parallel neighbourhood survey identified the needs of local people and collected their ideas for the new mobility hub, which were among others the following:
- green façade, liveable surroundings, playground, outdoor exercise, multi-purpose location
- supermarket, drugstore, roof-top café, lunch catering, bike-repair-shop, pharmacy, doctor’s surgery
- architecture with reference to brick buildings in the area or glass and steel
- social requirements, e.g. local economy, band rehearsal rooms.
Altogether, the mobility hub will make efficient use of public space, have a functional mix and make a contribution to protect the climate.
