December 28 2021

Shared transport provider Hely now operates more than 80 mobility hubs for residents of residential towers and apartment complexes in major cities and for employees of companies. The trend is that residential areas are also very suitable for sharing electric shared cars and (cargo) bicycles. A development that is taken into account when designing new neighbourhoods and areas. “With neighbourhood hubs we facilitate larger groups of people and can therefore make a more sustainable impact on the environment per project and improve the quality of life for residents,” says Michael Baan, responsible for Business Development at Hely.

Sustainable impact

With a mobility hub in a large city, Hely facilitates an average of around 350 homes. In a residential area, this quickly increases to more than 1.000 homes. In this way, more impact can be made at once with regard to sustainability and the scarce space. Hely mentions the Parkrijk district in Rijswijk as an example. A new neighbourhood that is classified as sustainable, inclusive, safe and child-friendly. When designing the district, people want to use space and energy in a smart way and have therefore opted to realise fewer car parking spaces for residents and to install several Hely Hubs. This encourages residents to use sustainable means of mobility such as electric shared cars, e-bikes and e-cargo bikes.

Customised transport

For each mobility hub, Hely adjusts the type and number of shared means of mobility to the users. The company knows the need from collected data, but also from the recent survey among current users of the mobility hubs. One of the most important results of this research is that the car is the most favored electric vehicle, but that a third of the users also use a shared bicycle. Other outcomes are:

• Every season has its own choices: In winter, 90 percent opt ​​for the car; this is shifting to the (cargo) bike towards the warmer summer months (50/50).

• The youngest user is 18 years old (Hely's minimum age) and the oldest, an e-bike user, was 76 years old in 2021. The average age of Hely's customers is 39.5 years.

• It is possible to take vehicles spontaneously, but 95 percent of customers make a reservation in advance via the app to be sure that the means of transport is available. Reservations can be made from two weeks in advance, but usually in the same week.

• Users are willing to walk to a hub up to six minutes and on average, users live within a radius of one kilometer from the hub. If all vehicles from one hub are in use, people are even willing to walk or cycle longer to another hub.

• The various vehicles are used for family visits, shopping, holidays and taking children to sports clubs. Similar to using your own car.