News

Stationary car sharing in eastern HafenCity under way

05.08.2021
The HafenCity mobility concept prioritizes pedestrian and cycle traffic and public transport both for reasons of ecology and to enhance the quality of the urban environment. It includes the goal of substantially reducing car ownership, and so a central element is the cross-neighborhood, station-based car-sharing system whose launch was announced at today’s press conference.
The car-minimizing approach in eastern HafenCity starts with the principle of reducing allocated private parking per residential unit. The parking space ratio is at the reduced level of 0.4 spaces per residential unit. The smart mobility concept makes it easier for residents and workers to switch from a private vehicle to an alternative form of transport. Depending on requirements, journeys can be made on foot, by bicycle, by public transport and using car sharing. The competition to run car sharing in eastern HafenCity, staged by the HafenCity Hamburg GmbH subsidiary GKNM (Company for Coordinating Sustainable Mobility), was won by the cambio group. The company is starting this fall initially with a fleet of 13 vehicles at six stations in underground parking garages. As the neighborhood develops, a car pool of around 100 car-sharing vehicles of different types is envisaged. At the outset, electric cars make up 60 percent of the fleet, with this share set to increase to 90 percent by 2025. The vehicles are charged with electricity 100 percent from certified renewable sources.

Uniform access system for different needs

The system is primarily geared to what in future will be about 8,000 residents and about 13,000 workers in eastern HafenCity, but outsiders can also use the service. From small cars to compacts and commercial vehicles, various models will be available to meet different needs. Two different tariff models are available depending on frequency of use. The service will be operated from the underground parking garages for all users there. Booking and provision of vehicles will be fully digital and based on mobile applications, which will also regulate area-wide access to the 30 digitally integrated private underground garages. To this end, a uniform access system will be installed that will permanently enable the entry and exit of car-sharing vehicles as well as pedestrian access to the underground garages by service-users from other buildings. Building owners will be responsible for the functional charging infrastructure as well as the Wi-Fi and mobile phone connectivity for the transmission of booking and billing data of the cars.


Future-oriented mobility

In the original fitting out, at least 40 percent of all parking spaces in residential and office buildings in the Elbbrücken and Baakenhafen neighborhoods will be equipped with charging points. Pre-installation will be carried out for all other parking spaces. By 2027, about 1,500 underground parking spaces are expected to be fitted with a type 2 (load switching-compatible) charging point. The car-sharing system contributes to reducing both moving and stationary car traffic. In addition, the amount of construction work on large underground garages and parking spaces in public areas will be reduced, significantly increasing amenity value and reducing the ecological footprint of the buildings. Thus HafenCity will become a test bed for trialing future-oriented, innovative mobility concepts. It is also an anchor project in the neighborhood mobility topic for the ITS World Congress that Hamburg will be hosting October 11–15, 2021.