Foreword

To the next quarter-century!

Shared mobility has never been more in vogue. The private car is losing its lustre, fossil fuel engines are on the way out, and an increasing number of cities and municipalities are committing to sustainable mobility models in view of the climate crisis. As Switzerland’s most successful car-sharing provider, our cooperative has been at the forefront of these changes since 1997.

When Mobility turned 25 last year, we received the most wonderful birthday gift from our customers: a quarter of a century after being founded, our number of users surpassed the quarter of a million mark for the first time ever, reaching 261’000. What a milestone! Could the founders of our two predecessor cooperatives, ATG AutoTeilet and ShareCom, ever have dreamed of where we are today, when they entered the car-sharing business independently of each other in 1987?

To achieve the mobility transition and a sustainable society, idealism and persistence are just as crucial now as they were then. Mobility is aiming to be climate neutral by 2040 and to operate a purely electric fleet by 2030. We are making good headway in this regard and we hit the 10 per cent mark in late 2022. Meanwhile, electric vehicles have become available in all categories, from budget cars to vans, which we are thrilled about. Needless to say, there are challenges in implementing this, but we can rely on our many motivated partners to help us achieve this goal.

Mobility has always been committed to innovation and is constantly trying out sustainable forms of mobility. But not all innovations work out. One such example was the free-floating service in Basel, which we brought to a close last summer after eight years due to high operating costs and low profitability. But he who dares wins – and that’s why we will be staying true to our role as pioneers in the future. With V2X Suisse, we are currently gauging the potential of bidirectional charging and we are taking part in research projects into battery service life.
Aside from this, we also took various steps to improve our core service in 2022. For example, vehicles can now be locked and unlocked by smartphone (Bluetooth). Mobility has also updated its offers and rates. Among other things, this means that long journeys are now more attractive thanks to day packages, members of the cooperative receive additional discounts for multi-day excursions and annual fees are being replaced by monthly fees. Additionally, we are aiming to convince more young people of the benefits of car sharing and have created an offer tailored to them. MobilityYOUNG enables people under the age of 28 to drive at particularly favourable and flexible rates.

We achieved and implemented so much in the previous year – all the more so in light of the global crises we have had to weather. Like many companies, we too have felt the effects of the stricken economy, rising energy prices and low consumer confidence. Nonetheless, Mobility managed to achieve a modest increase in turnover. At CHF 1.4 million, annual profit was better than expected.

The year ahead does not look set to be straightforward either – far from it. The economic situation is volatile and an increasing number of stakeholders are wanting a piece of the shared mobility market. We are rising to the challenges and continuing to invest in digital solutions that improve our users’ experience and make the switch to car sharing as easy and convenient as possible for the people of Switzerland.

For the next 25 years, our optimism will remain unwavering. Mobility has secured a strong position for itself and done so much right – and there is more room to grow too, as there are still too few shared vehicles in Switzerland. We are keeping our nose to the grindstone and working to shape the future of sustainable mobility – with our experience, daring and innovation.

Thank you for your support and interest. We hope you enjoy reading our 2022 Annual Report.