Rotkreuz,17.04.2014

Hitchhike scheme shows Zug Estates not just concerned with homes and offices

When the latest stage of the Suurstoffi development opposite Rotkreuz Station is completed, 1,500 people will be able to live on the 10-hectare site and 2,500 are expected to work there. Naturally, this all means additional traffic, but the developers, the Zug Estates AG company, are to introduce a further measure to reduce the number of car journeys, having already set up a Mobility car-sharing facility.
 
It has been revealed that the developers are to work with Hitchhike, an online platform enabling people to offer or accept lifts. Whoever lives or works at the Suurstoffi development will be able to offer himself as a driver, or seek out possibilities of being taken somewhere.
 
"We approached Zug Estates about the idea," said Raphael Renggli, who comes from Rotkreuz and who thought up the idea with Jean-François Schnyder, Ramon Rainer and Fabian Köppel. As students at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, they all knew all too well how difficult it was to park there and this provoked them to set up a Hitchhike prototype programme. After a successful trail period, the D4Business Village in Root and the ITZ Information Transfer Central Switzerland company have joined the university as customers.
 
Now they have as many as 550 users on three customer platforms and 75 car-pools have been set up. However, the system had to be adapted for the Suurstoffi development, as both residents will be commuting out as workers commute in, unlike at a school, for example.
 
"Experience has shown that between 5% -10% of commuters are prepared to get involved in such a scheme, which means that eventually there could be as many as 200 and 400 users in the Suurstoffi complex," said Renggli, though the young entrepreneurs think around 50 car pools will be set up initially. Registration is free to users, with Zug Estates paying the fee for the use of the platform and another fee dependent on the number of users.
 
"We think it is well worth it and in this way we are contributing to sustainable mobility management," said Rony Amrein, director of management and marketing at Zug Estates.
 
But will drivers be prepared to take someone they don't know in their car? "There is very little risk in a closed system like this," explained Renggli. "Anyway, it will be a good way for people there to get to know each other."