Getting around in an easier, more efficient and sustainable way. This is SEAT’s goal for launching the pilot phase of two projects that aim to make mobility easier and more sustainable and reduce the number of vehicles at the factory with the collaboration of Mobike and ByBus.
SEAT Vice-president for Production Christian Vollmer said that “with more than 13,000 employees at SEAT Martorell, we are similar in size to small cities or towns such as Tarifa or Formentera (Spain), and we have the opportunity to implement solutions that can later be exported outside the company’s site. If we aim to become a benchmark of future mobility and make it cleaner and more sustainable in large cities, we must first begin by achieving it at home.”
SEATBike, by Mobike, revolutionises mobility in the ‘SEAT Smart City’
The popular shared bicycle service Mobike is rolling in over 100 bikes at the Martorell factory, which is gradually becoming a small benchmark smart city. SEAT has signed a collaboration agreement with the company to begin a pilot phase in order to test how the model works and assess its advantages for the employees.
The goal is to make it easy for workers to get around the complex.
In the first two weeks since its implementation, SEATBike now has over 2,000 registered users who have made more than 4,700 short trips. The time savings has amounted to 129 hours on transfers inside SEAT Martorell that take an average of 5 minutes on distances close to 800 metres.
In order to take advantage of the service, employees simply have to download the official Mobike app and register their information. The use of a helmet is mandatory and it is forbidden to ride inside the workshops, or at night without a reflective vest. Moreover, there are several dedicated areas around the factory to park the bicycles when not in use.
ByBus kicks off its second pilot phase for employees
Developed by the team at the SEAT Metropolis:Lab Barcelona, the goal of the ByBus project is to improve the effectiveness of public transportation by providing a service that adapts to user needs. The initiative aims to optimise bus lines that are currently in operation by offering flexible routes that adapt to real-time demand. Following the announcement of a pilot test in Wolfsburg, Germany, a second pilot phase is ready for implementation at the SEAT factory in Martorell.
For this next pilot phase of ByBus, three Alhambra units are available to employees for on-demand transfers to different destinations within SEAT Martorell. To benefit from the ByBus service, employees must make a transfer request by indicating their location, destination and number of travellers about ten minutes prior to their scheduled departure. Once the reservation is made, a car and driver collects them at the closest stop and drops them off where requested. In the first weeks of operation, the service has already transported more than 3,000 employees.
SEATBike and ByBus services are free of charge and will be tested during the next few months in order to analyse their operation and performance and evaluate the benefits they deliver to the employees of the Martorell factory.
SEAT Martorell - a smart city?
The more than 13,000 employees that move around the facilities on a daily basis have led SEAT to promote several projects aimed at considering the centre as a small smart city. The company has been working on sustainable urban development by adapting the initiatives being carried out to the needs of its ‘inhabitants’.
In addition to the initiatives for enhancing mobility, SEAT has reduced the environmental footprint of its production activity by 35% in the past eight years and has launched large-scale projects such as the CARS Healthcare and Rehabilitation Centre, which provides all SEAT employees with advanced preventive, healthcare and rehabilitation medical care in the areas of orthopaedics, cardiology, gynaecology, mental health, diagnostic imaging, physiotherapy, fitness and rehabilitation. In 2018 more than 70,000 procedures were performed in the facilities.
