The Passenger Transport Act and a lack of economy make Clevershuttle partially withdrawn – but the start-up already has new locations in view.
Realignment for CleverShuttle: As the start-up announced, its buses used in Stuttgart, Hamburg and Frankfurt will remain in the garage in the future. The 330 drivers who are losing their jobs due to the cessation of service are to be offered retraining in order to be able to work as a bus driver, for example. Different founders are behind the step, spokesman Fabio Adlassnigg told WirtschaftsWoche Gründer: “There have been difficulties with the Passenger Transport Act in Frankfurt from the start: the service has never been formally approved, but only tolerated. We waited every day for the authority to speak – but to no avail. ” There were also restrictive bureaucratic obstacles in Stuttgart, so the decision was ultimately taken to withdraw from the capital of Baden-Württemberg.
In Leipzig on the way to profitability
In Hamburg, on the other hand, the decision had economic reasons: Here, the development did not go as hoped. This is mainly due to the competition from Moia, Volkswagen’s shuttle service, which has been on the streets of the Hanseatic city since April.
The withdrawal from the three cities is not seen as a defeat, emphasized Fabio Adlassnigg, because business is developing positively at the other locations in Berlin, Munich, Leipzig, Dresden and Kiel. According to its own statements, the start-up transports 300,000 passengers a month throughout Germany: “Most successful We are currently in Leipzig, where we want to be profitable by the end of the year – we are already doing this five out of seven days a week. ”
Expansion to other cities planned
And CleverShuttle wants to expand further, said Fabio Adlassnigg: “From mid-November you will find our buses in Düsseldorf, and by the middle of next year we will also be starting in other cities in NRW.”
The Clever Shuttle, founded in 2014, offers trips by app order. An algorithm brings together people with a similar goal to carpool. The service promises to be more convenient than public transportation and cheaper than a taxi. At the same time, passengers have to put up with a longer journey because other passengers get on and off in between. In 2015, Deutsche Bahn entered the start-up as an investor, and took over the majority in September last year.
In the course of the development of CleverShuttle, the discussion about a reform of the Passenger Transport Act has been rekindled: “We are asking the Ministry of Transport to express itself as soon as possible about the law in order to eliminate uncertainties for the future that will not only affect us, but also other ups in the industry, ”said Fabio Adlassnigg. Headwinds are coming from the taxi industry, however, which is opposed to liberalization for fear of the jobs of its drivers.
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