Recordings of trip data of vehicles at the “Buiksloterham shared electromobility hub” started in June 2019 and, after one year, it was a good occasion to extract first lessons. The location of the electromobility hub is at Papaverweg, which is close to the planned new buildings of Republica, thus targeting the mobility needs of the Schoonschip inhabitants. Those inhabitants only arrived in 2019 and the last houseboats where put in position in December 2019. Unsurprisingly, the use of the electromobility hub only picked up in 2020. But then in March, the COVID-19 virus kicked in. Where possible, people started to work from home and the mobility needs were thus significantly reduced, which clearly is shown by the trip data. Despite the difficult circumstances for the hub and the monitoring, several lessons could be drawn from the evaluation:
- User participation is lower than could be expected from the surveys that were conducted initially in preparation of hub realisation
- More people than expected, even those that participate in the hub, keep hold of their own car. Even though there are no parking facilities nearby, they keep it for longer rides or weekend trips where the pricing structure of the hub is perceived as unfavorable.
To provide answers to the questions that are relevant for the future of the hub, the organisation Townmaking has been hired to provide better insights. Their research is ongoing.
(Picture Credits: City of Amsterdam)