Hypermotion 2019: Time Miles aims to reward instead of punish

The Berlin-based software company Zeitmeilen utilized the platform of Hypermotion 2019 in Frankfurt to promote its app-based mobility application. The aim is to encourage users, particularly in workplaces, to adopt more sustainable mobility behaviors.

"Our principle is to reward the choice of eco-friendly transportation instead of penalizing the use of more environmentally harmful ones," explains a representative of the company founded in 2014, which now belongs to the highQ software company family.

This company specializes in developing IT solutions for public transportation. The goal of the app was to find ways to convince commuters to leave their cars behind more often and use multimodal transportation—meaning public transit, car-sharing, or bike-sharing—for their journeys.

Convincing drivers with good public transit or bike path offerings

Studies have shown that with a sufficiently developed infrastructure in metropolitan areas, commuters can indeed be guided in the desired direction. The basis of the application is therefore the ideal, monetary, and virtual incentivization through so-called "Zeitmeilen" (time miles). This incentivization can also be presented in the form of a regionally effective bonus system integrated into the respective user's mobility app. The user collects time miles and later exchanges them for perks such as free rides, free parking time, or discounts at regional shops, the provider outlines further. This approach is more effective than, for example, sanctioning the use of one's own car with a congestion charge or a driving ban.

"Motorized individual transportation remains part of the mobility mix optimized by Zeitmeilen," the provider further describes.

This way, even staunch drivers can be gradually "picked up" and encouraged to adopt more sustainable mobility behavior, believe the developers of the app. It is also more efficient for municipalities and companies to contribute with time miles rather than investing in additional infrastructure or vehicle fleets, according to their rationale.

The data-compliant app does not create movement profiles and works with anonymized and encrypted data. It provides the user with individual routes from dynamically updated sources and presents a visually appealing overview of the kilometers traveled by bike, public transit, ride-sharing, or other means of transport. In a submenu, the collected time miles can subsequently be redeemed.