Tag: #TIER

FREE NOW Europe is the is the first private mobility platform to integrate public transport tickets into its app

FREE NOW, Europe’s  Mobility Super App, announces at the Web Summit 2022 a major milestone: users can now book public transport services through its app as well as taxis, private cars, eScooters, eBikes, eMopeds, and carsharing. As a result, FREE NOW offers all modes of transport from a single source, strengthening its position as Europe’s leading mobility platform with the largest amount of travel options in one app.

The first cooperation enabling access to public transport via the FREE NOW app was signed with Rheinbahn in Germany. FREE NOW users will be able to book tickets for buses, trams, and underground trains directly in the FREE NOW app for all tariff zones of the Rhine-Ruhr Public Transport Association (VRR). The integration completes FREE NOW’s offering of on-demand mobility in one of Germany’s most important metropolitan regions. In fact, with almost 1,100 lines, around 7.8 million inhabitants, and an area of around 7,300 square kilometers, the cooperation with FREE NOW provides access to Europe’s biggest transport network and the largest urban transport area. That includes major German cities like Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen, Bochum, Wuppertal, and Duisburg.

To begin with, users will be able to buy single tickets, day passes, and 48-hour passes. The technical integration has already begun. The ticket sales are possible thanks to a partnership with the Dutch aggregator Tranzer.

Further partnerships with other transport companies in Germany and across Europe are planned for 2023.

FREE NOW: Having expanded since 2020, this public transport integration completes urban mobility offering

FREE NOW has continuously expanded its own mobility offering for its users since 2020, in partnership with leading mobility players in Germany and Europe. Through this, the FREE NOW app brings together more than 400,000 vehicles in Europe. This consists of  ride-hailing services like taxis and private cars, as well as carsharing, eScooters, eMopeds, and eBikes.

Thomas Zimmermann, CEO at FREE NOW, comments on the new partnership: “We’re pleased that we’re now the first private mobility platform to be able to offer our users public transport tickets in the biggest population and the largest urban transport area in Europe. This is an important next stage for us and, for the first time, we’re enabling end-to-end ticketing for different modes of transport in our app. Linking different mobility offers is crucial to succeed in transforming transportation in Europe. FREE NOW actively supports this as a partner of public transport. Our goal is to make urban mobility in Europe more sustainable, intelligent, and interconnected.”

Commenting on the announcement Niall Carson, General Manager for FREE NOW Ireland said, “The integration of public transport into the FREE NOW app in Germany is a key milestone for the business, and reflective of our ambitions to make multi-modal approaches to transport more accessible across the markets in which we operate. Our goal in Ireland is to mirror the multi-modal progress of our European counterparts like Germany moving forward – building on our first integration of micro-mobility in the Irish market this year with our TIER eBike partnership in Dublin. We intend to continue expanding our offering and transport solutions with eScooters on the horizon along with other mobility options, helping to support a shift in our national approach to daily transport – from car-centric to multi-modal, flexible and sustainable.”

The new travel option is primarily aimed at remote workers who only travel to their place of work occasionally, as well as business travellers or tourists. For example, almost 30% of all FREE NOW passengers use the app in cities they travel to occasionally. As a platform that’s active across Europe, the company can  contribute to strengthening both public transport and the environmental alliance in the long term.

FREE NOW users do not need to create a new account to book and pay for public transport. They can simply use their existing customer account.

TIER and Luna announce strategic partnership agreement. #micromobility #TIER #Luna

Europe’s leading e-scooter operator TIER and Irish micromobility tech platform Luna have announced a strategic partnership to explore the piloting and deployment of computer vision and smart city technology on shared e-scooter fleets, across Europe and the Middle East. In response to today’s announcement, Luna will also create 15 new full time jobs to assist with the work on these pilot projects. These jobs will cover computer vision/AI, hardware, IoT and project management roles in Ireland.

The announcement comes as part of an Enterprise Ireland trade mission to Germany where Tánaiste, Leo Varadkar T.D. met with representatives from Luna and Tier in Berlin. The meeting was to further understand the nexus between Ireland and Germany within the e-mobility and automotive industry, and the future role of shared e-scooter schemes in Ireland once the required legislation is passed.

The strategic partnership builds on the Dublin pilot which is taking place across DCU’s five campuses, and which also involves the Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics. TIER and Luna are exploring the option of partnering in Paris and examining the possibilities of how vision-enabled e-scooters can assist the Mayor’s Smart City ambitions, using high fidelity and high frequency imagery captured by a portion of TIER’s fleet of 5,000 scooters there.

In addition to Paris, both companies are also exploring partnering in the Middle East with Smart City stakeholders, to examine the potential for bespoke computer vision solutions to tackle local issues around safety, infrastructure optimisation, as well as current and future municipal governance requirements. Additional pilot projects are also being explored in Spain amongst other locations, but details on these locations are yet to be finalised.

Another element of today’s announcement is that there will be a further collaboration with various digital mapping platforms, which will look at how TIER riders and computer vision on scooters can be utilised to capture more accurate and up to date mapping data, that will assist the deployment of micromobility schemes in cities on a global scale. Existing mapping platforms scan cities maybe once or twice a year, whereas scooters can capture and infill additional street level data on a daily basis.

Finally, as part of the strategic partnership, TIER and Luna are also embarking on a technical integration project to examine how the Luna computer vision hardware can be embedded into TIER vehicles at the point of manufacture. This will allow Tier to develop a next generation e-scooter that allows the current Luna standalone computer vision tech to integrate more deeply with the vehicle, similar to how Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) tech has evolved in the automotive industry.

Speaking at the announcement of this strategic partnership, Tánaiste (Irish Deputy Prime Minister) and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar T.D. said: “I’m really happy to see this strategic partnership between Irish company Luna and Europe’s leading e-scooter operator TIER. Ireland is introducing a new law to allow for the legal usage of scooters on our roads in our towns and cities, as they become an increasingly popular option for commuters. Luna will hire 15 people as a result of the partnership, which will help build on the current pilot project that is taking place in DCU. These kinds of innovative partnerships can provide Ireland with a ‘second mover advantage’, helping us avoid some of the safety and other teething issues of earlier e-scooter schemes elsewhere. With this in mind it’s reassuring to see TIER, not only bringing advanced technology to solve some of the challenges we will no doubt also face in Ireland, but also to see them working with Irish stakeholders such as the NCBI and the Irish Wheelchair Association, through their recently established Safety Board.” 

 

Matthias Laug, CTO and Co-Founder of TIER, said: “We are already working closely with Luna in Dublin, and this broader strategic agreement allows us to expand the scope and ambition of our partnership. We see computer vision as a valuable tool in our mission to change mobility for good and to lead the way towards seamless, sustainable and safe micro-mobility. Alongside our world-leading parking capabilities with Fantasmo, this powerful collaboration with Europe’s leading computer vision and edge AI startup in the scooter space, allows us to explore the full potential of this exciting technology on our fleet. Luna thinks about cities in the same way as we do, and we look forward to jointly developing new solutions that address some of the key smart city challenges our city partners are identifying, from pavement riding to infrastructure monitoring and from litter alerts to road condition reports.” 

Andrew Fleury, Co-Founder & CEO, Luna said: “Luna is thrilled to be partnering so closely with TIER across multiple geographies in the EU and Middle East. Cities and stakeholders everywhere are looking towards smart technology to help find solutions to some of the operational challenges that are holding the shared scooter industry back from fulfilling its potential. TIER is embracing Luna technology, even at this early stage of its evolution, in order to pioneer the future of micromobility, and deliver safe and sustainable services that not only do the basics of looking after rider and pedestrian safety, but also look to the future where scooter fleets act as mobile sensor networks in the smart cities of tomorrow. The rate of industry advancement is astonishing in the shared scooter sector, and TIER is very much to the fore in this regard, having already developed an innovative Energy Network infrastructure for its user swappable batteries, as well as pioneering the deployment of Augmented Reality parking technology. Luna sees TIER as a natural partner in our mission to keep people safe and make cities smarter, and we’re excited to see how the partnership develops over time.

 

We were also excited to announce the expansion of our team with the creation of 15 brand new jobs over the coming months especially in the presence of the Tánaiste, who responded positively to the work we are currently undertaking in the micromobility sector.”

FREE NOW joins forces with TIER in DCU e-scooter trial rollout

Ireland’s leading ride-hailing app now enabling e-scooter bookings as part of country’s first trial run by Europe’s number one micro-mobility operator

Leading ride-hailing app FREE NOW has partnered with leading micro-mobility provider TIER Mobility to support the rollout of Ireland’s first e-scooter trial across five DCU campuses. As part of the trial which is running until early 2022, passengers can now book e-scooters from the TIER fleet based at DCU via the FREE NOW app.

The e-scooter trial began in July with the goal of improving safety for e-scooter users and pedestrians, as well as providing city authorities with valuable data and insights to facilitate safe e-scooter use once government legislation passes in Ireland. FREE NOW’s involvement in the scheme will encourage continued learnings, modal shift and participation among passengers – enabling students and staff to trial the e-scooters over the coming months via FREE NOW’s app integration.

New nationally representative data from FREE NOW highlights the need for more sustainable and multi-modal transport options like e-scooters in Ireland, with 75% of people stating that Ireland lags behind other European countries when it comes to sustainable transport options. Furthermore, 12% of people would actually consider selling their private cars in favour of more sustainable options like e-scooters once legislation on their use comes into full effect.

FREE NOW’s partnership with TIER in the DCU pilot is an extension of its pan-European partnership with the micro-mobility operator which has been rolled out across five countries (Germany, France, UK, Poland & Austria) since March 2021 – making TIER e-scooters widely available to passengers via the FREE NOW app. Recognised for its sector leadership in safety and sustainability, TIER is Europe’s number one e-scooter operator, serving over 130 cities including London, Paris, Berlin and Dubai. This partnership is part of FREE NOW’s commitment to sustainable mobility and its goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2030.

Commenting on the DCU pilot partnership, Niall Carson General Manager of FREE NOW Ireland said: “We are delighted to partner with TIER and support the continued rollout of Ireland’s first e-scooter pilot scheme over the coming months across DCU campuses. This scheme will positively contribute to the safety standards for e-scooter usage in Ireland and we hope it will support the government’s rollout of legislation in the coming months – enabling people across the country to avail of safe, sustainable and convenient micro-mobility rental.”

Fred Jones, Northern Europe General Manager of TIER, added: “Our research trial at DCU brings TIER together with a range of brilliant partners to ensure Ireland’s first e-scooter scheme is not only a success but a valuable learning opportunity for cities exploring the future of micro-mobility. By adding the trusted and popular FREE NOW app to that mix we can take the trial multimodal and generate more compelling insights.”

FREE NOW to partner with e-scooter operator TIER enabling people to book e-scooters. #TIER #Escooters #FREENOW

The leading multi-mobility platform FREE NOW has partnered with micro-mobility operator TIER, meaning people in Ireland could soon book e-scooters through the FREE NOW app. The partnership will initially launch in eight German cities next month, followed by France before a wider European roll-out, which both companies plan will include Ireland, should TIER be successful in launching an e-scooter rental scheme in one or more Irish cities.

A recent passenger survey revealed growing demand for multi-mobility options among FREE NOW passengers in Ireland, with 59% saying they would like to see additional mobility options available in the app. In response to this demand FREE NOW is progressing plans to add more mobility options to the app, starting with e-scooters and partnering with TIER and other mobility providers as legislation comes into effect.

The partnership follows the Government’s recent announcement that it will legalise e-scooters on roads, with the legislation expected to be passed in the coming months, followed by city tenders. TIER, which recently won highly prized tenders in Paris and Dubai, will partner with FREE NOW in all common markets, with both companies united in their mission to improve urban mobility and reduce dependency on car ownership.

Anyone booking a TIER e-scooter through the FREE NOW app will get the benefit of industry- leading safety features which minimise the risks to riders and the public, including an integrated helmet, indicator lights, shock absorbers and the largest front wheel in the market to better handle varied terrain. They also have triple brakes and a double kickstand which help TIER to lead the sector when it comes to stopping-distance and wind resistance.

Commenting on the announcement, General Manager for FREE NOW Ireland Niall Carson said: “Our new partnership with TIER is another key milestone in the growth of FREE NOW’s multi mobility offering to passengers in cities across Europe. In the Irish market, we welcome this announcement and are working closely with TIER and other leading micro-mobility providers to offer passengers a broader range of transport options in the future. Already in other markets such as Germany and soon in France, we have a mix of taxis, e-scooters, e-bikes, e-mopeds and car sharing on the FREE NOW app, offering a more integrated approach and we look forward to expanding this further in Ireland. We are proud to be working with partners such as TIER who have a strong track record of success with a clear focus on safety, which is of critical importance to us.

Fred Jones, Northern Europe General Manager of TIER, commented: “We are on a mission to transform urban mobility and to do that, we need brilliant global partners, like FREE NOW, who share our vision for greener, less congested cities. 

“This partnership is a major milestone for TIER and we are hugely excited at the potential prospect of rolling out the feature in Ireland, so that Irish riders can have the convenience of booking a ride with the press of a button through the FREE NOW Ireland app.” 

Founded in 2018, TIER  was the first micro-mobility provider in the world to go climate-neutral, and its sustainable approach also applies to its business model, with the company reaching profitability in June 2020, shortly before securing a $250 million Series C fundraising.