Carré Mobility connects the inhabitants of a neighbourhood with their destinations and needs, offers different vehicles for differing mobility needs and takes the whole product range of shops conveniently to the customer's home: spontaneously, transparently and via one single platform. Carré Mobility users can see which mobility services are available in their immediate surroundings (their quarter) and can also make different mobility-related requests in the community. Carré Mobility distinguishes between the following three categories of services: delivery services, ridesharing services and general sharing services. Via sharing services, commercial sharing vehicles (for example cargo bikes, electric scooters, electric cars, etc.) or communally used private vehicles available in the neighbourhood can be booked for journeys. The delivery service enables inhabitants to select everyday goods from the product range of local shops and consolidate them in a digital shopping list using the Carré Mobility platform.

The result is a marketplace for the neighbourhood where all residents and local shops can benefit from using the platform. In times of COVID-19, in particular, the platform offers a solution for protecting at-risk groups while supplying them with vital everyday goods.

Good to know

• The organization was founded in 2019. Since then, the growing team, which today consists of 13 mobility and Carré enthusiasts, has been working with different intensity on realizing its vision of sustainable and social mobility in residential neighbourhoods.
• Carré has multiple meanings: 1. care (in the sense of looking after each other) 2. Carrée (in the sense of a quarter), 3. Car-e (electric car) as well as 4. Karre (German slang for car)
• The project collaborates with many and varied partners: h3ko, Mobileeeee, NIU / super socco, noca, GoUrban, Velo City, local partners from the housing industry (gewobau, GBG Mannheim etc.), municipal authorities (e.g. city of Rüsselsheim), Science (Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences) as well as local players/initiatives (e.g. insel-projekt.berlin, BVMW). Julian Rowley, who as a generator of ideas had already been awarded first prize of the German Mobility Award in 2017, has been part of the team from the very beginning. He has been avidly supporting Carré Mobility as an advisor since its foundation.

Interview with Franziska Weiser, Founder and CEO, Carré Mobility UG

How did you come up with the idea for your project?

The project was born from my passion for the “mobility of the future” and the lessons I learned as an inhabitant of a multi-party house in Rüsselsheim. Irregular local public transport services, very few sharing schemes and gaps in the supply of everyday goods are challenges facing my quarter. Particularly in case of illness or for older people, a convenient supply of goods is difficult for anyone without a car of their own. By bringing together the ingredients of municipal cohesion, sharing services and platform technology, we want to achieve improvements for quarters like ours.

What challenges did you face during implementation?

We are living in a world of information overflow. A challenge we had to overcome was to break down relevant information and business features to make it easier to convince residents and business people of our idea. After this learning effect, we changed our approach. Now we always start with one feature only and build up further features together with residents and business people.

Where do you see your project in five years?

In five years, there will be many neighbourhoods across Germany strengthened by Carré Mobility, where residents support each other through mobility and are directly connected with local businesses. All neighbourhoods offer an individually tailored range of mobility services but are also linked up at a higher level through the standardized Carré Mobility platform. This is how we want to make a contribution to a transparent and sustainable community where everyone learns from the others.

What is your advice for others who have a good idea and want to translate it into action?

Challenge and discuss your idea, the MVP, the first product, with as many people as possible – ideally with people you trust and who have different backgrounds. Take the feedback seriously and steadily work on improving your approach. Look for people who believe in your idea and work together to realize the vision – the way is even harder if you are alone.