Derived from best practice of on demand bus service `defMobil` in the Defereggen Valley in East Tyrol, the very last mile in the valley have been linked through an additional mobility service: the e-defmobil 2.0. Three municipalities in the valley each have installed a “Flugs” e-car which acts as a hailed and shared taxi with volunteer drivers for residents during the week. Almost 70 volunteer drivers are involved in the non-profit taxi service and it became an integral part of the social fabric in all municipalities. More than 8.000 rides are already done after its implementation in October 2017.
After completing the action plan of the LAST MILE project, the implementation process of further community busses started successfully: Meanwhile, further five municipalities in the region have learned from the best practice in Defereggen Valley and conducted participation events for their residents to inform about the idea of a community bus. After a careful preparation, three community busses will start their operation at the latest in autumn 2019.
The community busses close the mobility gap between front doors, bus stops, shops, doctors or recreational facilities. The new mobility services can also replace a second or third private car for families, which is essential in many cases due to insufficient public transport as well as unplanned settlement in a rural area. The taxi service operates only upon request and has flexible routing to individual destinations within each municipality’s border. The best thing: the e-cars of the community busses are in the fleet of the regional “Flugs” e-carsharing system and can be also used for carsharing on weekends. So, a multifunctional e-car links the last mile for several users´ needs in East Tyrol.
