ÖBB doubles number of carsharing points

Published on 10-01-2020 at 12:01

ÖBB Rail & Drive service, source: ÖBB

Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) intends to increase the number of its carsharing points. By the end of January, the company will operate 33 locations situated at the train stations across the country. This figure is twice as much as it was two years ago when ÖBB launched Rail & Drive carsharing service for its passengers.

The latest carsharing location was open by ÖBB in early December at Tulln an der Donau train station in Lower Austria. For 2020, the railway operator has scheduled to launch 12 new Rail & Drive points. Five of them will become operational in the coming week: Tullnerfeld, Stainach-Irdning, Schladming and Wien Penzing. As a result, the number of ÖBB’s carsharing locations will increase up to 33 points by the end of January. They will be situated in 28 cities and will offer almost 300 cars for the last-mile connection. The remaining eight sites will be launched by the year’s end.

Electric cars

The Rail & Drive service also includes the use of electric cars. Currently, ÖBB offers 24 electric vehicles of Renault Zoe, VW e-Golf, Nissan Leaf and BMW i3 brands. They are available for the customers at 12 train stations including four sites in Vienna. In the following months, the fleet of electric vehicles will be increased up to 29 cars that will be offered at 16 Rail & Drive stations.

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ÖBB Rail & Drive network from the end of January 2020, source: ÖBB

ÖBB carsharing

ÖBB started its carsharing service Rail & Drive in December 2017 as an option for last-mile travelling. As of today, there are 7,300 registered customers who use this service at 29 stations. To use Rail & Drive for the first time, a customer must visit the ÖBB sales offices at the train stations in order to review the driving license and get the loyalty card. Also, he or she needs to register on a special website. After that, the carsharing service can be used via a mobile app. The service rate is based on time and mileage. The minimum tariff per hour is 1.40 Euros and 0.15 Euros per kilometre. A customer can book one car for a period of up to seven days.