Chemnitz city council tests car sharing
The city of Chemnitz is trialling the use of car sharing for business purposes. Vehicles from the central German provider teilAuto are now available for this purpose. Initially, around 25 employees will be able to use the shared vehicles and try them out over a period of 12 months. The aim is to examine how the administration's own vehicle fleet can be supplemented by car sharing in line with demand.
"We want to check whether the use of car sharing vehicles can not only make our business mobility more flexible and sustainable, but also save costs," explains Mayor Sven Schulze. Back in 2014, the city pioneered the concept by setting up car sharing spaces in municipal car parks, such as the one at Getreidemarkt. "It is only logical that the administration itself now wants to use shared cars for business journeys," says teilAuto Managing Director Patrick Schöne.
"We are delighted that Chemnitz now wants to join the ranks of Central German city administrations that are supplementing their vehicle fleets with environmentally friendly car sharing," says Dr Torsten Bähr from Verkehrswende in Kleinen Städten e.V. The association initiated the relaunch of car sharing in Chemnitz three years ago.
A total of 16 vehicles are currently available at eleven teilAuto stations in the Chemnitz city area. According to the provider teilAuto, which was founded in Halle an der Saale, car sharing is used by around 25,000 customers at 16 locations in central Germany alone. According to the German Carsharing Association, over one million authorised users in around 540 cities and municipalities use carsharing services throughout Germany.