On the left bank of the Rhine between Cologne and Neuss lies the medium-sized town of Dormagen with – according to the town – more than 65,000 inhabitants. The “Stadtbus Dormagen” (Dormagen city bus) has been operating here since the 1990s, with six routes connecting the city centre, especially the railway station, with the city districts. Dormagen does not have its own buses: DB subsidiary BVR (Bus Verkehr Rheinland) from Düsseldorf was awarded the contract to operate the routes.
One year ago, on 12 December 2021, the on-demand system “STADTBUSsi” (just so named and just so spelled) went into operation as an additional service. UTM reported. Now STADTBUSsi has turned one year old.
“STADTBUSsi” serves the entire city area, not only where the six city bus lines go, but also where the next stop of the regular lines is a little further away.
For the “STADTBUSsi” service, BVR has procured two all-electric “London Taxis” of the “TX Ecity” type from the manufacturer LECV (London Electic Commercial Vehicles). The cars look like the famous London taxis, albeit in a somewhat modernised form. Until recently, the CEO was German, even though the company is based in United Kingdom, however, he is now working in an executive position at the Northern Irish bus manufacturer Wrightbus.
The app that can be used to order “STADTBUSsi” has been downloaded over 1,800 times in the past twelve months, over 1,500 journeys have been made and 2,200 passengers have been transported. The fact that significantly more passengers were transported than trips was mainly due to the fact that “ride-pooling”, i.e. combining several trips at the same time with almost the same route, is becoming increasingly important and therefore not only one passenger sits in the “STADTBUSsi”, but several customers are transported with one trip.
Klaus Schmitz, Managing Director of the municipal “Stadtbus Dormagen GmbH”: “We are very pleased that the new premium offer is so well received by our passengers. A good 90 percent of passengers are very satisfied with the “STADTBUSsis”.
STADTBUSsi welcomed its thousandth passenger towards the end of the summer. He received a gift: for one month he could use STADTBUSsi free of charge.
The 2,500th passenger will also be able to travel with STADTBUSsi free of charge for a month. Which is why the city bus company says: “It pays to ride.
02.01.2023
