Mobility in rural areas - a growing challenge in times of increasing urbanisation. In the inter- and transdisciplinary project NEMo, scientists led by Oldenburg are endeavouring to find sustainable solutions. An interim report.
The name alone reveals the direction of the project: NEMo stands for "Sustainable fulfilment of mobility needs in rural areas". The emphasis is on sustainable. The 18-strong scientific team led by Oldenburg business information scientist Prof Dr Jorge Marx Gómez is striving to find a long-term solution to a growing problem: in their experience, supermarkets, doctors, banks and other facilities for everyday needs are increasingly settling in cities and their surrounding communities. In contrast, these "suppliers" are becoming increasingly rare in rural areas, forcing the population to travel longer distances. At the same time, local public transport is becoming increasingly limited - often because demand is falling and local authorities are being forced to make savings.
According to the researchers, the mobility disadvantage in rural areas is particularly evident on the daily commute to work. The situation is particularly difficult for young people who do not yet have a driving licence. "We found out that apprentices also select their academic appointment based on whether the company and vocational school are even accessible to them," says Benjamin Dietrich, who is responsible for project administration and project management at NEMo. "It's frightening that young people can't fulfil their aspirations because they aren't mobile enough," says the economist and social scientist.
This is where the NEMo team comes in. The idea: in places where buses and trains run infrequently or not at all, citizens themselves provide mobility - for example, by giving neighbours a lift in their car or using a bus stop that is less frequented. This closes gaps in local public transport services and conserves natural resources. It also enables the rural population - especially older people - to participate more in society.
Specifically, the scientists want to develop a mobility platform that maps the various needs and requirements and brings people together in a targeted manner. However, this idea of networked mobility is not entirely new: NEMo follows on from the "Schaufenster Elektromobilität" project, which the University of Oldenburg (Department of Information Systems, VLBA) helped to organise until 2015. What is new, however, is the clear focus on rural areas.
Citizens express their wishes
The three-year project was launched in March 2016. The team has now reached the halfway point and can report initial results: Scientists from the universities of Lüneburg and Braunschweig involved in NEMo have conducted and analysed two online surveys in Oldenburg and Wesermarsch with several hundred participants and qualitative interviews with around 25 people. "We have gained very interesting insights into what people in rural areas want with regard to their mobility and have even been able to implement most of these into the platform," says Alexander Sandau, who is involved in the project as a doctoral candidate in business informatics.
The most recent online survey, in which more than 300 residents of the Wesermarsch district took part last June, focussed on the topic of "carpooling". "It turns out that most respondents prefer a mobile platform as a form of organisation for carpooling," says Dietrich. Almost everyone now has a smartphone or an internet-enabled computer, so an online solution is simply the most flexible to use. "Of course, we are very pleased with the popularity of an online solution, because that is precisely the idea behind NEMo," adds Sandau.
The survey in the Wesermarsch also determined the conditions under which respondents could even imagine getting into someone's car or offering a lift. The result: car pools that also cover the return journey are particularly popular. In addition, passengers prefer to get in the car with women and preferably during the day. Drivers, on the other hand, attach importance to not having to take too long a diversion. The tolerance threshold is therefore four kilometres.
"There have already been specific demands on the platform," adds Sandau. At the top of the wish list are a transparent pricing system and the option to rate journeys. "Passengers are already thinking about who they are getting into the car with. We could address these concerns with a rating system," says Dietrich. After all, carpooling requires a relationship of trust.
Field trial starts in winter
He and his colleagues are currently incorporating these and other wishes into the prototype of the mobility platform, together with suitable data provided by cooperation partners, such as local public transport timetables. The platform therefore not only maps potential carpooling options, but also shows alternatives or connections to buses and trains. A field test for the NEMo app is due to start in a few weeks, and a citizens' forum is also planned. "In this way, we want to involve interested citizens and receive feedback at an early stage," says Sandau. However, the survey will continue to run in parallel to the development of the platform and the results will gradually be incorporated.
"It is precisely this parallel, interdisciplinary collaboration that makes NEMo so special," says Sandau. The social scientists are gradually analysing people's needs. Step by step, economists, lawyers and transport scientists are translating these needs into business and organisational models, which the Computing Science experts then use to develop the mobility platform, which the citizens then test. In this way, everyone is pulling in the same direction to sustainably improve mobility in rural areas.
NEMo is being funded by the state of Lower Saxony and the Volkswagen Foundation with 1.5 million euros. In addition to the University of Oldenburg, the University of Lüneburg and the Technical University of Braunschweig are also involved, as well as numerous associated partners from municipal institutions and industry. Five professors at the University of Oldenburg are involved: Business information scientist Prof Dr Jorge Marx Gómez, software engineer Prof Dr Andreas Winter, legal scholar Prof Dr Jürgen Taeger as well as business information scientist Prof Dr Jürgen Sauer and Prof Dr Frank Köster as an expert in intelligent transport systems. Prof Dr Anna Henkel (Social Theory) and Prof Dr Jantje Halberstadt (Social Entrepreneurship) from the University of Lüneburg and Prof Dr David Woisetschläger (Service Management) from the University of Braunschweig are also involved.