The BMW Group offers its Munich employees a range of options for getting to work in an environmentally friendly and convenient manner and for mobility within the company.
Agile businesses need agile employees. More than 120,000 people worldwide contribute to making the BMW Group's vehicles and services so successful. At the BMW Group’s headquarters in the Bavarian state capital of Munich alone, more than 40,000 employees help the company achieve the highest standards. To be able to do so, they need to be both agile and mobile. And they need to be as environmentally compatible as possible in their endeavours.
With “MOBILITY4U”, the BMW Group has developed a comprehensive mobility scheme that is available to all employees through one internet platform – initially in the vicinity of the headquarters and, later on, at other sites. “MOBILITY4U is a novel and, above all, sustainable programme for occupational mobility. All colleagues can choose between different types of mobility for commuting to work (MVV job ticket, company buses, the BMW LeaseRad bicycle leasing scheme) as well as vehicles, shuttle buses, e-scooters and bicycles to travel between the different BMW locations in Munich while keeping emissions to a minimum”, explains Rudolf Reichenauer whose responsibilities at the BMW Group include employee mobility.
One of the defining characteristics of the scheme is that all offers are based on ecological concepts. By 2025, the majority of the vehicles is to be electrified and charged with green electricity. “Commuting to work, travelling between different company sites as well as business trips are to be both comfortable and sustainable. In addition, the BMW Group can make a major contribution towards reducing traffic congestion in and around Munich in this way”, says Roland Jung, responsible for employee mobility at BMW Group's Munich sites. 4,100 charging stations are to be installed for employees at BMW sites by 2021, half of which will also be accessible to the public.
The portfolio includes the “WERKSBUS4U” (work bus) and “PENDELBUS4U” (shuttle bus) services. The first scheme will take colleagues from their homes to their place of work – even from some places that are more than 100 kilometres away. Currently, this scheme is saving approximately 32,000 tonnes of carbon emissions per year across Germany. The other initiative already provides fully electrified transport between the campus of BMW Group’s Research and Innovation Centre (FIZ), where numerous innovations and future technologies are being developed, and its Garching site. According to Roland Jung it would be difficult to find any other company transport schemes of that scale and with such a far-reaching ecological concept in the world.
Another service in the portfolio is “ProBike”, providing hundreds of well-maintained bicycles that, from next year, can also be unlocked via smartphone. They are already being used for 60,000 trips per year, helping to improve the users’ health and reducing their carbon footprint. And if employees need to travel further afield, because training courses are being delivered at a different location or meetings are planned at suppliers’ premises, they can avail of a vehicle from the “CAR4U” fleet, 24/7 and at different BMW sites. These schemes are supplemented by further mobility options, for example from car sharing providers Share Now or the City of Munich public transport job ticket (valid on the network of the MVV local public transport association) that is currently used by 13,000 colleagues.
Many of the programmes – from bicycles to shuttle buses – can be accessed via the URBY app. “Through URBY we are providing a comprehensive mobility service. It can be used by our employees to choose the most suitable mobility option for a particular occasion”, explains Roland Jung.
In future, it will also be possible for the users to see how much CO2 they are saving by using a bicycle or electric bus instead of their car, for example, when travelling within the city. “In this way”, says Roland Jung, “we are all given an extra incentive to reduce our carbon footprint.” As a supporting measure, BMW would then be able to provide even more support for choosing these proven sustainable mobility options.