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Liesing says goodbye: Rufbus is no longer coming!
The Danube city benefits from a successful on-demand transport project, which is being intensified after positive tests.
Liesing says goodbye: Rufbus is no longer coming!
The innovative project “Wien Mobil Hüpfer”, which has been intended to support the mobility of citizens in the 23rd district, Liesing, since March 2022, will cease its services at the end of October. The evaluation of the three and a half year pilot project shows little additional benefit. Loud Vienna district newspaper was the main goal of the hopper to bring passengers via the app from so-called collection points to subway stations, shops or schools. Despite these efforts, only two passengers per hour used the service -oriented electric bus, which indicates inadequate demand and the decision of the Viennese lines to end the project in Liesing.
SPÖ district leader Gerald Bischof expressed regret about the end of the offer, but showed understanding for the economic circumstances that led to this decision. The evaluation of the project found that the existing improvements in regular service in Liesing did not help the on-call bus to achieve the desired success. A detailed analysis of the figures will be presented after the hopper has been operational to shed more light on the reasons for the low usage. This information will be important for future public transport projects and will help avoid similar mistakes.
A look at Donaustadt
However, the fate of the Hopper project in Liesing is in contrast to the situation in the Donaustadt, where the on-demand offer is much better accepted. In autumn 2023, a second test area was introduced here, which has already received positive feedback. This is not surprising, because the settlement structure in the Danube city differs tremendously from that in Liesing, where regular traffic is not as dense. Vienna Mobil Hüpfer in the Donaustadt should now go into the next phase and thus be intensified in order to meet the constant demand.
As part of these changes in Liesing, additional electric bus routes (61B and 64B) were introduced and existing routes (61A and 64A) were restructured to continue to ensure the mobility of citizens in the region. The plans are part of a larger trend in which modern transport offerings should increasingly play a role in local public transport. Among other things, the focus is on on-demand transport, which is to be integrated into the existing bus and rail network in many ways, as is the case Future public transport network explained. These are primarily intended to provide the first and last mile between residential areas and existing transport hubs and help reduce barriers to use.
In summary, it can be said that the experiment with the on-call bus in Liesing must be viewed as a failure, while the positive development in the Danube city shows that success is certainly possible with a good concept and the right structure. Whether and how such models will potentially be expanded in the future remains to be seen - but the learning curve will hopefully be a fruitful one.