Mobility

Mobility was founded in 1997 with the merger of the two Swiss car sharing cooperatives AutoTeilet-Genossenschaft (ATG) and ShareCom. These predecessor companies were both founded in 1987, ATG in Stans and ShareCom in Zurich. The two began cooperating as early on as 1991, each enabling their members to use the other's vehicles. That same year they were both involved in setting up the association European Car Sharing. In 1996, ATG took over the Geneva-based cooperative CopAuto (founded in 1993). ShareCom developed the first on-board computers in the same year.

Mobility Cooperative was formed from the merger between ATG and ShareCom in 1997: its registered headquarters were in Zurich and it had 17,400 customers and 760 vehicles. After this, the reservation system underwent technological refinement: the vehicles were fitted with on-board computers and members were issued with a chip card (Mobility Card). Online reservations were introduced, too. These expensive technical facilities imposed a considerable financial burden on the company and a restructuring programme was initiated in the year 2000. Since then, Mobility has continuously increased its number of cooperative members and customers as well as adding more vehicles and sites. A range of cooperative ventures have been launched or expanded. In 2013 Mobility received the GfM award from the Swiss Marketing Association.

In 2014, Mobility launched Switzerland's first station-independent car sharing service called Catch a Car in Basel. Members could locate the cars via smartphone or website and drive from A to B without prior reservation. Catch a Car was in a two-year pilot phase until early 2016. Due to the positive results of the pilot project, the station-independent car sharing service continued to be offered in Basel and expanded to Geneva in 2016. The impact of Catch a Car on the mobility behaviour of individual members was scientifically monitored by ETH Zurich. In 2019, Mobility took over Catch a Car completely and integrated it into the Mobility system under the name Mobility Go. The service in Geneva was discontinued in 2020. The service in Basel was discontinued in June 2022. From 19 April 2018 to 4 November 2019, Mobility offered 200 red e-scooters in the city of Zurich. In addition, Mobility launched a pilot project for self-driving buses in the city of Zug in the spring of 2017 in collaboration with SBB and other partners.

Mobility is one of the founding members of the industry association Swiss Alliance for Collaborative Mobility (CHACOMO), which was established in December 2021 on the initiative of the Mobility Academy. In 2023, the carpooling-based taxi service i&any was launched in the city of Zurich. On 1 October 2007, the legal domicile was moved to Lucerne, where the cooperative's operational headquarters were already located. Since 11 December 2017, Mobility's headquarters have been in Rotkreuz, Canton of Zug.

Fleet

Mobility operates more than 3,300 vehicles at 1,600 locations.The cooperative does not own any parking spaces; instead, it rents them from private individuals, companies, or the public sector. The vehicles are primarily available at train stations and in urban areas. This is partly due to partnerships with various public transport companies in the area of connecting mobility.

The vehicle fleet comprises ordinary vehicles in 7 categories, ranging from frugal compact cars, convertibles and light vans to transporters. Their striking red colour is the company's main hallmark, making the vehicles clearly recognizable throughout Switzerland. One of the key considerations for Mobility's vehicle management programme is sustainability: according to the company itself, its entire fleet achieves emissions averaging 97 g CO2/km. This puts Mobility 33% below Switzerland's mandatory threshold as applicable from 2015.

The car-sharing provider is increasingly focusing on electric vehicles. At the beginning of 2024, around 500 of the 3,000 Mobility vehicles were electric.

Subsidiaries

Through its subsidiary Mobility Systems + Services (founded in 2001 as Mobility Support AG), Mobility markets its booking system MobiSys 2.0, which it developed itself, as well as its expertise in the fields of fleet management and marketing.

Criticism

In 2016, environmental organisations criticised the inclusion of Audi off-road vehicles in the fleet. In Bern, the Läbigi Stadt association was among those protesting. 'A car like this clearly contradicts the basic ecological principle of car sharing,' explains Nadine Masshardt. Nevertheless, more SUVs and saloon cars were added to the range in 2019: the Jaguar F-Pace, Land Rover Discovery Sport, Range Rover Velar, Jaguar XF and the Jaguar XE.