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Hamburg (dpa / lno) - Two years after the start of the shared taxi provider Moia in Hamburg, the VW subsidiary is having an extremely difficult time because of the corona pandemic. After the electric minibuses had to stop operating a year ago in April and May 2020 due to corona, the second birthday has now also fallen into the water. Most of the vehicles have been in the garage unused since Christmas last year. Moia currently only offers trips between midnight and 6 a.m. on behalf of the city as a replacement for the discontinued HVV night operation. In April, a good 17,000 passengers were carried so far, as a spokeswoman for the German press agency said.
Actually, the Volkswagen subsidiary is used to very different numbers of passengers. "In total, we carried around three million passengers up to the second corona-related cessation of our service last December," said the spokeswoman. Moia started on April 13, 2019 with 100 vehicles and a service area of 200 square kilometers. Without a pandemic, around 330 electric minibuses would serve around 320 square kilometers today. Originally, around 500 vehicles were planned by the end of 2019.
"We have temporarily suspended our regular operations in Hamburg and Hanover again and registered short-time work in order to protect the company and the workforce from the economic consequences of the pandemic," said the spokeswoman for the renewed shutdown of operations in December 2020. Short-time work applies to around 900 employees of Moia Operations Germany GmbH, including around 800 drivers.
As in spring 2020, Moia is increasing the short-time working allowance for the employees concerned to 80 percent.
There are no redundancies for operational reasons.
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The company sees itself as part of a network that ensures urban mobility and can also be booked via the hvv switch app. In the app, Hamburg bundles mobility offers, from underground and suburban trains to rental bicycles, rental cars, car sharing and shared taxis. The user should find the fastest and cheapest way with a single application in his smartphone, without having to have his own car.
Moia is neither a taxi nor a bus, but something in between.
The customer, who has installed the corresponding app and is registered with his credit card, enters his driving request.
The app then informs him of the price, the nearest stop and a time slot for the trip.
The customer is not picked up at the front door, but has to go to a virtual stop no more than 150 meters away.
During the journey, other passengers who want to cover a similar distance can get on and off.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210425-99-342997 / 2