Berlin – Mobility in Berlin should be even more colorful this year. “In 2022 we will add a new mode of transport to our offer,” said Eva Kreienkamp, CEO of Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG), of the Berliner Zeitung. “The barrier-free on-call bus 2.0 will complement the range of regular local transport outside the S-Bahn ring in the east of Berlin.” It is to run in the area between the S-Bahn lines S3 and S5. After it was said that operations would start in May, there is now also talk of summer 2022 internally. But the mobility researcher Andreas Knie has criticized it. “The new on-call bus will not flourish under the planned conditions,” he complained.
Rummelsburg, Friedrichsfelde, Karlshorst, Biesdorf, Kaulsdorf, Mahlsdorf: These Berlin districts extend into the planned service area between Ostkreuz and the city limits. In this area, which looks like a large piece of cake on the city map, the planned on-call bus 2.0 should be operational for 16 hours seven days a week. If you want to ride, you can download an app on your mobile phone and order a vehicle. The vans run “on demand” – on request.
Cheaper than taxis
The taxi industry fears new competition. But it will not be a taxi service, say the planners. The on-call bus 2.0 does not drive from door to door, nor do you have a car to yourself as a single passenger. Entry and exit will only be possible at BVG bus stops and virtual stops, according to the Senate Administration. In addition, every user must expect to have to share the vehicle with others. “Ridesharing” is the English name.
When planning a route, a computer program ensures that passengers with similar destinations are transported together. “We are trying to pool as many trips as possible,” affirmed BVG boss Kreienkamp. “Whenever possible, several passengers should sit in the vehicles.” This should keep the operating costs within reasonable limits. The Senate pays a grant.
For this, the passengers in the new Berlin on-call bus have to pay less money than in the taxi. A surcharge is to be added to the regular BVG tariff, the amount of which has not yet been quantified. Because the new transport service does not follow fixed routes, but rather selects the routes as required, it offers more flexibility than the existing bus and train lines. Last but not least, the minibuses will also run in areas that are currently not accessible by local transport or are considered to be poorly developed.
BVG lost many passengers during the pandemic. Therefore, in 2022, the state company wants to make particular efforts to win back customers, said Kreienkamp. “The question is: where is it smart to improve the offer further? Does it make sense to do this in Mitte, where passengers don’t have to wait long for regular local transport? Or isn’t it better in outdoor areas, where the offer is a little less dense? ”This is also how the new red-green-red coalition in Berlin sees it.
“I have the impression that the new offer is not really wanted”
In the summer of 2021, the BVG announced the new offer for East Berlin. Since then, the procurement procedure with which the largest municipal transport company in Germany wants to find an operator for the on-call bus has been running. “We want to award the contract in 2022,” emphasized the BVG boss. “It won’t be long now, we want to start.”
However, according to reports, the submission of the final offers is still pending. Further procedural stages will follow, so that the plan to begin in May 2022 will probably not be able to be realized. Observers report that the BVG has increased the requirements and implemented them in great detail. In the event that the conditions are not adhered to later in the company, there is a risk of high penalties. The project is quite complicated, according to the assessment of mobility researcher Andreas Knie from the Berlin Science Center. “I have the impression that the new offer is not really wanted,” he told the Berliner Zeitung.
Very few applicants will likely submit bids, said Knie. According to reports, ViaVan and CleverShuttle are taking part in the award procedure. There were no official confirmations, but the scientist also assumes that both companies will participate – after all, they have a lot of experience.
ViaVan, a joint venture between Daimler and Via, already operates an on-demand ridesharing service in Berlin for BVG. The Berlkönig started operations in 2018. In contrast to the planned on-call bus 2.0, its area extends within the eastern S-Bahn ring, in some cases it also extends beyond it. “185 vehicles are licensed, but we can currently meet demand with significantly fewer vehicles,” said BVG spokesman Jannes Schwentu. In October ViaVan took over the special transport service of the State of Berlin after a Europe-wide tender, which up to 25,000 people can use every year. Under the new name BerlMobil, at least 54 Mercedes-Benz Sprinters are ready for use in the city and for BER.
The Berlkönig must stop in September 2022 at the latest
According to reports, Berlin is strategically important for the company, which operates in more than 20 countries and also offers ridesharing in New York, Chicago, Washington, Amsterdam and London. “According to estimates, Daimler and Via have so far subsidized the Berlkönig with around 20 million euros,” said one observer. “But the Berlkönig can only run until the end of September 2022,” says Eva Kreienkamp. “Then the experiment phase ends, for which we have an exemption from the State Office for Citizens and Regulatory Affairs.” This is why experts assume that the previous BVG partner ViaVan will participate in the tender for the new on-call bus. If he gets the bid in the context of the planned IPO, that would fit well into the company strategy.
CleverShuttle is also already on the move in Germany. The Berlin start-up offered a ridesharing service in Berlin and other cities – independently, without subsidies. But it was only in the black in Leipzig. The company, which is owned by DB, the Mitsui Group and two of its founders, has now discontinued its own transport services. After a change in strategy, CleverShuttle is now operating on behalf of cities, districts and transport companies – including in Leipzig, Darmstadt and the Offenbach district. There are already eight transports of this type, four more will be added soon after winning tenders.
The future of public transport
But will the planned on-call buses really gain in importance in Berlin? “If you think small, you stay small,” says mobility researcher Andreas Knie. According to his information, there should be no way to “play” with the tariffs – as in Tel Aviv, for example, where fares are reduced at low-traffic times or in the mornings out of town. In order to develop new customer groups, one must break away from the previous local traffic logic. “The on-call bus 2.0 will be a first small step,” said Knie. “But more should follow.”
This is what the BVG boss assumes. “We want to try out how such an offer is accepted by our passengers in order to be able to offer such a service elsewhere in Berlin in a second step,” says Eva Kreienkamp. “On-demand ridesharing is the future of public transport,” said Oren Shoval, Via co-founder and chief technology officer.
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