Ride-hailing around Říčany via mobile app. Transportation service provided by minibuses that pick up passengers at a pre-confirmed time at the nearest boarding point.
The service is neither a taxi nor a public transport bus. It’s something in between, both in time and cost. Using a mobile app developed by Citya, a passenger interested in traveling around the city orders a car. The passenger enters the destination, pickup location and the number of passengers. The passenger then receives confirmation on when and where the minibus will arrive. The vehicle is sent to the nearest boarding point, which is displayed on the map in the app (there are about 2500 such points around Říčany).
The price around the city ranges from 25 to 75 CZK. The payment is made via the entered credit card. Operational hours are Mon-Fri 7:00-19:00 and Sat 10:00-18:00. There are several six-seater minibuses in operation and an ideal journey is shared by several passengers.
The shared rides bring better service and, if used efficiently, could also mean less traffic and less parking requirements at stations and in the city centre. Hence, ride-hailing is a suitable complement to free public transport buses and school buses.
The startup CITYA presented its service in Říčany at the end of June 2022 during the international Future City Tech 2022 Conference which was co-organised by the City of Říčany and PowerHUB.
Subsequently, a pilot was agreed and launched during the summer school vacation period. Since then, the concept has attracted the interest of several other cities and regions that are considering incorporating this form of transport in their territory. Smaller vehicles better serve narrow streets or more remote parts of municipalities. In addition, this type of service also solves the problem of bus drivers shortage because only a passenger car license is sufficient to be able to drive these minibuses.
