Tag: Tier 1 Suppliers

Published June 28, 2019 5:44 pm, Via NYC
ViaVan results strong for on-demand shared transit at Mercedes-Benz Bremen plant

28 June 2019 (Bremen, Germany) — ViaVan, the joint venture between Via, the leading provider and developer of on-demand public mobility, and Mercedes-Benz Vans, has successfully completed the pilot phase of an on-demand, dynamic corporate shuttle at the Mercedes-Benz Bremen plant. The service has become an integral part of the plant’s mobility offerings, having demonstrated significantly shorter waiting times and higher vehicle efficiency, despite a large increase in users, as compared to the previous corporate shuttle. The service has been so successful that ViaVan and Mercedes-Benz will be launching additional corporate campus solutions at other Mercedes-Benz plants.

“ViaVan provides shared mobility solutions that are smart, efficient, and sustainable. We’ve been able to bring corporate campus transportation into the future with proven results that our technology can reduce wait times for employees and improve transportation cost and vehicle efficiency for our partners at Mercedes-Benz Vans,” says Chris Snyder, CEO of ViaVan.

Employees at the Bremen plant can hail a Mercedez-Benz Vito directly through a smartphone app powered by Via’s technology. Via’s smart, shared algorithm seamlessly matches passengers headed in a similar direction into one shared vehicle with a guaranteed seat. Riders are provided a specific pick-up location and ETA. Average wait times for riders are 60% faster than the previous service and rider satisfaction is high, resulting in a 3x increase in usage rates.

ViaVan has also proven to be a cost-effective solution for Mercedes-Benz due to its ability to efficiently utilize vehicles for the movement of multiple passengers. This alleviates the need for additional vehicles on the road, also resulting in significantly reduced vehicle kilometers per passenger and a decline in traffic and congestion on factory premises.

“The use of ViaVan in the Bremen plant is another building block of innovative mobility offers for our workforce. With the first all-electric Mercedes-Benz from mass production, the EQC, we are moving towards the future in production. With ViaVan, we are making our internal works traffic sustainable, increasing the mobility of our employees and at the same time reducing the number of department vehicles and thus the volume of traffic on the site. It’s a great project!” Markus Keicher, site manager of the Mercedes-Benz Bremen plant.

ViaVan, together with its parent Via, have been tapped by cities and transit authorities over 70 times in more than 15 countries around the world to provide on-demand public mobility solutions. ViaVan’s partnerships include powering a demand-responsive bus pilot with TfL in London, corporate campus mobility with BASF and demand-responsive bus services in the UK with Arriva and Go-Ahead.

About ViaVan:

ViaVan is a leading provider of innovative on-demand shared transit services in Europe. ViaVan was founded in 2017 as a joint venture between Via, the world’s most sophisticated developer of dynamic shared rides technology, and Mercedes-Benz Vans, the leading manufacturer of iconic passenger and cargo vans. Working closely with cities and public transit operators, ViaVan powers dynamic shared mobility services that complement existing transportation infrastructure, and currently operates in London, Amsterdam, Berlin and Milton Keynes. Through their partnership, Mercedes-Benz Vans and Via are also collaborating on the development of advanced mobility solutions, from sensor technology, to electric vehicle fleet management, to autonomous driving.

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