The housing association Viva is first to use the EC2B app
The residents of the housing association Viva in Sweden’s second largest city Göteborg share almost everything - laundry rooms, coworking spaces, greenhouse, conservatory, recycling rooms, cars and bicycles. At Viva, none of the residents have their own parking space. Instead they use an app to buy public transport tickets, book a car or a bicycle.
In addition to a car sharing system with electric cars there is a large shared bicycle garage with electric bicycles, cargo bikes and Zbee, an ultra-light electric vehicle with three wheels. Buses and trams can be reached in a short walk from Viva. Everyone who lives here has access to EC2B, an app from Trivector. With the app they can see which alternatives there are to travel to their chosen destination. They can then buy a ticket at Västtrafik (the public transport authority) or book a vehicle from the housing association’s vehicle sharing system. Several information meetings have been held to help the residents get started with the app and to test the different vehicles.
– “The electric bicycles work without any problems. You can book them up to a week in advance, but usually you can book one spontaneously. Sometimes, we travel by public transport, but it is often faster to go by bicycle,” says Elias Gröndahl, who lives in the building.
–“We book the bicycles in the EC2B app. Once I have made a booking, a small locker in the bicycle garage opens and I can access a key. It’s simple. I don’t use the function which helps you to find alternative roads and vehicles that often. I know my way around Göteborg, says Elias.
The result of research
Viva is the result of a research and development project Riksbyggen Positive Footprint Housing whose aim is to find new ways to build and manage housing that is good for people, the environment and the economy today as well as in the future.
– “There has been great interest to move to the housing association Viva”, says Charlotta Brolin, sustainability specialist at Riksbyggen.
Riksbyggen would like to continue building more sustainable houses with no or few parking spaces.
–“It is expensive to build parking lots. There is great competition over the land, and it is costly to build underground. Moreover, the cars are parked for a large part of the time,” says Charlotta. “At Viva we have learned that bicycle sharing system requires a lot of supervision and commitment. Finding a good app for booking has also taken time. The fun part is that the residents seem so pleased and that the bicycles are used more than expected.”
Read the whole article about the housing association Viva (in Swedish) here: 2038 höstvintern 2019/20.
More information about EC2B
Read more about the EC2B app. You can also contact Björn Wendle, +46 10-456 56 09.