History
“A lot of Mobility vehicles were being stolen when we started out”
15.05.2022
35 years of car sharing in Switzerland, 25 years of Mobility: What began with a few visionaries and a bright red Opel Kadett became the market-leading Swiss car sharing company. Two of Mobility’s founding members, Conrad Wagner and Rolf Fischer, look back at the cooperative’s first few years.
Major success stories often begin in the minds of just a few pioneers. This was also the case with Mobility. In 1987, two new cooperatives were established at almost the same time in Stans and Zurich: Both ATG AutoTeilet from Stans and ShareCom in Zurich had the same goal, which was to offer their members affordable and flexible mobility via car sharing programmes. Conrad Wagner and Rolf Fischer still remember this time very well: The two friends who had met in the military were one of the co-founders of the AutoTeilet cooperative. The idea behind shared vehicles was to give them and their friends maximum flexibility while requiring only minimal obligations. But the pioneers were even more motivated: “We wanted to change mobility in the long term,” says Fischer today, 35 years later. And Conrad Wagner adds: “From the outset, our motivation was to reduce the volume of traffic while at the same time enabling deliberately designed mobility.” In 1997, ATG AutoTeilet and ShareCom merged to create the Mobility Cooperative.
The two then spent hours and whole nights together to develop their idea further. A lot of this thinking was done while they continued their military service: “We were radio operators and had a lot of time to work on our project during the WKs.” The two of them even sent the first membership invoices from the WK via free field mail. “At some point, they caught us doing that, however”, Fischer says with a grin.
It all began with a bright red Opel Kadett
Only a few idealists used the first shared vehicle in the beginning, but more and more people then began signing up each month. Rolf Fischer remembers the first Mobility car exactly: an Opel Kadett, bright red, with hatchback. “We wanted a colour that stood out – and that would run through.” The plan worked. What started out as a small organisation in Stans developed into a nationwide car sharing system within just a few years. “And this despite the fact that we barely had enough money for advertising”, Fischer recalls. “This job was taken over by the media, who reported prominently on our promising project.” The positive consequences were not long in coming: In the first few years, the company regularly recorded over 100% growth.
On-board computers put an end to car theft
The young cooperative faced several challenges despite the great success it enjoyed. “A lot of Mobility vehicles were being stolen when we started out – that was when we still didn’t have any on-board computers”, Wagner recalls. “It was only with the electronic access control that ownership and use could be protected.” Such hurdles did not prevent the founders from sticking to their vision. On the contrary, they were all the more motivated by setbacks, both large and small.
When Fischer looks at Mobility today, he can still feel the spirit of the early days. “The company has positioned itself excellently when it comes to sustainability in particular.” With the aim of converting its entire vehicle fleet to electric cars by 2030, Mobility is going back to its roots. “The cooperative is predestined to take on a pioneering role in these kinds of issues.” Despite everything, Fischer also sees room for improvement: “The company should be a little more courageous and audacious.” With around 245’000 members, Mobility’s potential is far from being exhausted.
Moreover, despite all of its innovations, the automotive industry has not always developed positively in recent years. “The vehicles have generally gotten bigger and heavier, and This offsets the sustainability of the vehicles.” For Fischer, it is therefore clear: “Mobility should not focus on heavy vehicles, but rather on light vehicles.” Conrad Wagner takes a similar view. “It was clear to us from the outset that car sharing could not be the only solution to the rapid development of traffic.” This is also supported by the fact that the number of private vehicles in Switzerland has doubled to over 4 million in the space of 30 years. “But car sharing is an important part of the solution for multifaceted mobility and intermodal transport chains that combine different modes of transport such as road, rail, water and air.” Conrad Wagner and Rolf Fischer will continue to hold on to this conviction in the future. “Our hearts will remain red forever – just like the red Opel Kadett!””
The establishment of Mobility
The Mobility Cooperative was established in 1997 through the merger of the ATG and ShareCom cooperatives. The founders of Mobility had also considered using the name Trafix at the time. “We decided to name the cooperative Mobility CarSharing Schweiz in order to focus attention on this new mobility opportunity that was to be made available throughout the country”, says Mobility co-founder Conrad Wagner. The group of founders consisted of around ten people dedicated to developing a new system of mobility. Today, the cooperative has around 250’000 members and more than 3’000 vehicles that are distributed across approximately 1’500 stations throughout Switzerland.