September 24, 2018 — ViaVan, the joint venture between Via and Mercedes-Benz Vans, is delighted to announce that chemical company BASF has tapped ViaVan to launch a fully dynamic and on-demand shuttle service for the company’s Verbund site in Ludwigshafen Germany. The BASF site in Ludwigshafen is the first industrial site in Germany to introduce this full-service transportation solution from ViaVan.
“We are thrilled to partner with BASF to launch a shuttle service for their site operated by ViaVan,” said Chris Snyder, CEO of ViaVan. “Our cutting-edge mobility solutions are smart, efficient, and sustainable, and our technology is uniquely suited to help reimagine the future of corporate campus transportation.”
The on-demand corporate shuttle service will be powered by Via’s world-renowned technology, and fully operated by ViaVan, who will oversee all service logistics, driver and fleet management, and customer support. This unique transportation as a service (TaaS) model will apply ViaVan’s deep experience in mobility as a seamless solution for BASF’s existing on-site needs.
The service is intended to complement the existing corporate bus service, which runs on pre-set timetables, with a flexible system that matches multiple passengers headed in the same direction into a shared, dynamically-routed shuttle, creating more efficient and convenient travel around the BASF site. BASF employees and guests will be able to request a shuttle in real-time through a mobile app.
The partnership is an important step in creating solutions-based means of transportation for companies, cities and citizens around the globe who face changing mobility needs.
“We’re proud to embark upon a new development phase at BASF over the next several years, starting with ViaVan’s dynamic ridesharing service, which will focus on providing forward-thinking mobility solutions for our employees. This will improve working conditions for our people and is very much in keeping with our “Zukunftsbild Werk Ludwigshafen” (Vision for the Ludwigshafen Site) project, namely to set an example in safety, productivity and innovation,” said Dr. Uwe Liebelt, President BASF European Site & Network Management and General Manager of the Ludwigshafen plant.
ViaVan partners with universities, public transportation authorities, transit operators, taxi fleets, and private companies all over the world to solve transportation challenges for cities and campuses of all sizes.
About ViaVan
ViaVan is a leading provider of innovative on-demand shared transit services in Europe. ViaVan was founded in 2017 as a joint venture between Via, the world’s most sophisticated developer of dynamic shared rides technology, and Mercedes-Benz Vans, the leading manufacturer of iconic passenger and cargo vans. Working closely with cities and public transit operators, ViaVan powers dynamic shared mobility services that complement existing transportation infrastructure, and currently operates in London, Amsterdam and Berlin. Through their partnership, Mercedes-Benz Vans and Via are also collaborating on the development of advanced mobility solutions, from sensor technology, to electric vehicle fleet management, to autonomous driving.