Car sharing in Ulm: close eight locations - what does that mean for users?

Car sharing in Ulm: close eight locations - what does that mean for users?

A shock for car sharing fans in Ulm! Stadtwerke Ulm (SWU) have decided to close eight locations of their popular Swu2go car sharing service on December 15th. This drastic measure concerns the suburbs of Jungingen, Eggingen, Erking, Einsingen, Unterweiler, Mähringen, Gögglingen and teaching. The message came to the user in a short email to the users who found the decision surprisingly.

The SWU admits that acceptance in these rural areas was not sufficient to ensure economic operation. "In contrast to many other locations, these eight locations at the population have not yet found the acceptance required for economic operation," said a spokeswoman for the SWU. The demand was simply too low and many residents prefer to use their own car.

Increasing costs and lack of funding

But that's not all! The SWU also fights with increasing leasing, maintenance and electricity costs. In addition, there is the elimination of the environmental bonus for electric vehicles, which further influenced the decision. "After a careful assessment of all factors, the city of Ulm and SWU spoke out against this SWU2GO locations together against an extension of the contract," explains the spokeswoman. The affected communities were already informed in advance and had an insight into the number of uses, which, however, cannot be published for competitive reasons.

But don't panic! The car sharing offer will not completely disappear from rural areas. The SWU plans to continue to operate the locations in and around Erbach, Blaubeuren and Rottenacker. The existing charging stations, which were previously only used for SWU2GO vehicles, will be converted into public charging stations from December 16. So the SWU stays on the ball and relies on the development of the infrastructure for e-car sharing, especially in urban areas.