Key findings of the first “Riverty Mobility Connect“ in Berlin

People using public transportation and micro mobility services in Germany such as bicycles, electric cars, or small e-cars often face the following challenge: There is an own app or website for each service – and for each of them a separate account must be set-up, including the personal data for the favored payment options. "This is inconvenient as the services are not connected and not really customer-centric, especially when it comes to using multiple services on a single journey", says Mathias Quetz, mobility expert at Riverty, a leading FinTech company. "Mobility in Germany needs to become much more digital, connected, and customer centric."

 At "Riverty Mobility Connect", a new industry event for experts from the mobility sector, he discussed the current challenges with the other panelists and shared his vision of future mobility in which people will be getting easily from one place to another, using new and combined mobility services, with payments being integrated into the customer experience as seamlessly as possible. "That's what customers want and what we strive to achieve together with our partners", says Quetz. "That's why I see a clear trend towards innovative check-in and check-out solutions, where people ultimately only pay for the actual use of the chosen mode of transport, towards consolidated payment and invoicing that should cover all mobility services used, and towards mobility bundles instead of stand-alone solutions."

 The market for shared mobility is growing rapidly. For example, according to the German CarSharing Association (“Bundesverband CarSharing”), the number of people registered with car sharing providers rose by more than one million between 1 January 2023 and 1 January 2024, which is an increase of around 22 percent. More than 90 percent of Germany's major cities are covered by car sharing now. In these cities, shared mobility could almost completely replace individual transport, if customers can use the services conveniently.

Massive growth in micro mobility services in urban centers to cover the last mile

 A micro mobility study by McKinsey has shown that the sales potential of micro mobility services in Europe will reach up to 150 billion US-dollars by 2030. Worldwide, the market could even reach a sales volume of up to 500 billion US-dollars. More than a quarter of the world's population lives in cities with more than one million inhabitants, and the average travelling speed in these cities is not higher than 15 kph. Given that 50 to 60 percent of all urban journeys are less than eight kilometers long, micro mobility is proving to be a viable alternative, especially as a replacement for private cars.

"The mobility ecosystem in Germany is very large and comprises a large number of different service providers. We are now taking the next step and aim to develop innovative payment solutions and other exciting services together with market players. The goal is a holistic and sustainable form of mobility in Germany that is customer-centric and offers people completely new possibilities and simpler processes through complete digitalization", emphasizes Quetz. In his opinion, this vision can only become a reality if the individual providers in the industry get connected, exchange ideas, and enter partnerships. With Riverty Mobility Connect, the FinTech, which has long been active in the areas of public transport and mobility and strives to cover the entire ecosystem in the future, has provided an important impetus for this. This week's event at Riverty's Digital Hub Berlin was attended by the most important industry representatives from the DACH region.