The city of Vitoria-Gasteiz, in the northern part of Spain, has always been committed to reducing carbon emissions and implementing sustainable mobility solutions for the benefit of its 250,000 inhabitants.
In 2020, the city offset a total of 575 kilotonnes of CO2 emissions, which prompted them to draft a Climate and Sustainable Energy Action Plan that aimed to reduce these by 61.5%. In 2022, Vitoria-Gasteiz was selected as a Mission City. Consequently, the municipality intensified its efforts to re-plan their strategy to achieve climate neutrality by 2030.
A carpooling solution
One of the solutions Vitoria-Gasteiz is implementing to achieve climate neutrality aims at introducing more sustainable mobility practices through carpooling. At the beginning of 2023, around 25,000 citizens drove their own cars to industrial parks for work every day. This was encouraged by the general lack of congestion on the roads and the abundance of available parking spots. To inspire a shift in mindset and support behaviour change, strong incentives were needed to prompt the workers to give up the comfort of their own vehicles in exchange for a more environmentally friendly commute option.
The city teamed up with the carpooling app Karos Mobility to implement this solution in a pilot project that was planned to last four months, from September 2023 to December 2023. The pilot was funded by urban mobility initiative EIT Urban Mobility, which made it a financially low-risk project that could help gauge public acceptance and transform it into a long-term initiative.
Taking part in the initiative provided carpool drivers with attractive financial incentives, as this would offset their petrol costs by 97€ per month. In turn, carpool users only needed to pay 0.60€ for a ride, equivalent to the cost of a bus ticket.
The pilot proved extremely successful, doubling the initial target of 300 carpool trips a week to 600 trips a week by December 2023. By the end of the pilot, 181 drivers had signed up, giving more than 6,000 rides to 870 users. This amounted to a reduction of 11 tonnes of CO2 in the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz during the four-month period.
The project was extended twice after its initial pilot phase. The extension from January 2024 to February 2024 was funded by Karos Mobility while a further extension from March 2024 to August 2024 was co-funded by Karos Mobility and the city’s Environmental Studies Centre. As of the end August 2024, more than 500 registered active users had already made 49,000 carpools, which contributed to a reduction of more than 100 tonnes of CO2 emissions in Vitoria-Gasteiz.
In July 2024, the city launched a tender to finally implement carpooling to and from industrial parks as a fixed public service for its residents for another 12 months, until August 2025. Karos will once again be working with Vitoria-Gasteiz for the implementation of this solution.
Key drivers
- Political: The commitment to its mission of becoming a carbon-neutral, liveable and sustainable city.
- Technical: Availability of advanced technology in the market such as the Karos Mobility app for efficient ride matching and route optimisation.
- Legal: Supportive legal frameworks and policies that allowed for the implementation of carpooling and shared mobility solutions.
- Stakeholder collaboration: One of the key strategies implemented to boost the use of carpooling services was to establish relations with eight companies located in the industrial parks. These helped Karos promote the solution to their employees. They allowed Karos to hold on-site meetings and webinars to introduce the solution to the workers.
- Internal coordination: A Spanish speaking employee from Karos was given a desk next to the Head of Mobility and Data Science Unit of the Environmental Studies Centre, the public agency in charge of the implementation of this solution. This ensured clear communication and coordination.
- Cultural: to increase the chances of attracting citizens, Karos took into consideration that in Vitoria-Gasteiz both Spanish and Basque are spoken languages. The company decided to use these in the app, website, and marketing materials. This allowed Karos to easily access the Basque market.
Key barriers
Social: There were no political or economic barriers to implementing this solution. The only barriers were social ones. There was a need to open people’s minds about sharing rides with strangers. Furthermore, driving their own cars was a convenient way to go to work; workers needed to be convinced that carpooling was a better and more sustainable alternative.
Potential for replication
Vitoria-Gasteiz’s carpooling solution is highly replicable, especially in terms of creating marketing and communication materials, including the carpooling app.
In fact, Carpooling has proved successful in other European cities too. For example, the CHILDFY app, piloted in Cascais, Portugal in 2022, benefitted families and students of two selected schools in the city. They achieved a reduction of private car use by 10% within one year and allowed parents to feel less stressed when taking their children to school.
This case study shows the impact that can be achieved with:
- Effective messaging: To be able to change people’s behaviour and conditioned thinking
- Stakeholder engagement: It is key to identify collaborations that can attract citizens to be part of these initiatives.
- Public-private partnerships: Cities will generally not have the expertise or resources to carry out such projects. There is a need to work with experienced and knowledgeable partners who can provide technical and logistical services to implement the solution. As seen in this case study, they are important in improving cities and tackling increasingly complex challenges such as achieving net zero emissions.
Carpooling has shown to be a promising way to reduce the number of cars on the roads while enhancing social cohesion and networking in communities. It is a replicable solution that brings cities closer to their sustainability goals.