Moventia successfully concludes bus operations in Mecca for Ramadan season

In February, Moventia launched its urban transport service in Mecca with a shuttle line between Masjid al-Haram (the Great Mosque of Mecca) and Al Haramain Station (the high-speed train station).

In April, the company faced its greatest trial by fire on this project because Ramadan fell in that month this year, a period during which a vast number of pilgrims travel to Mecca (12 million this year). For this Stage of the project (Stage 1), Moventia operated 120 buses on up to four lines carrying up to 50,000 passengers per day in recent days. The shuttle between Masjid al-Haram and Al Haramain Station (Stage 0) was joined by the corridors leaving Masjid al-Haram: the western corridor, the south-eastern corridor and the northern corridor.

Jordi Castells, Head of Operations at Moventis and Manager of Moventis for Saudi Arabia, said he was “very pleased to have been able to successfully operate this service during the month of Ramadan. This was one of the main trials by fire for us and demonstrates that we are on the right path to completing our roll-out of this operation with 400 buses. It is important to stress that Moventia is the first international operator to launch an urban transport service in Saudi Arabia”.

Moventis, mobility partner of the TRAM Barcelona Open for second consecutive year

Silvia Martí, Vice-President of Corporate Affairs at Moventia, attended an event earlier today to present the V TRAM Barcelona Open, the International Wheelchair Tennis Tournament that Moventis supports as mobility partner. The event took place at the Barcelona Royal Tennis Club under the slogan of “El nostre únic límit el marca la pista” (“The court sets our only limit”).

The TRAM Barcelona Open has consolidated its position as a benchmark tournament on the international Uniqlo Wheelchair Tennis Tour and some outstanding players have already registered to take part this year. Confirmation from the numbers 1, 2 and 3 in the world (both men and women) positions this event as the best ITF2 category tournament by the International Tennis Federation and, once again, stands as the first tournament on the clay tour before Roland Garros. Having made these achievements, the tournament is ready to make the leap to the highest international category (ITF1) next year.

In line with the commitment from Moventia, Moventis continues to play its part and expresses solidarity with social and sports projects in order to maintain our support for the elimination of physical barriers that restrict mobility for persons with disabilities.

Moventis Sarfa recognised at Girona Tourism Awards

The award ceremony for the Girona Tourism Awards organised by the Costa Brava-Girona Tourist Board took place yesterday, Thursday 7 April, at the Church of Sant Pere in Ripoll. These annual awards seek to strengthen internal relations within the tourism sector, recognise the expertise of professionals and business leaders, and stimulate competitiveness from the tourism sector on the Costa Brava and Girona Pyrenees.

 

Moventis Sarfa received the “Xiquet Sabater Award for business projects”, which recognises those public or private institutions, entities or businesses that design, operate or consolidate projects or proposals that clearly contribute to enriching the attractiveness of the Costa Brava and/or Girona Pyrenees brands and stand out for their activity in support of developing tourism in the various parts of Girona.

 

The event, at which a video commemorating 100 years of the company was shown, was attended by the following on behalf of Moventis Sarfa: Josep Maria Martí, Vice-President and CEO of Moventia. Executive Vice-President of MOVENTIS; Juan Giménez, General Manager of Moventis; Enric Gimeno Aragonés, Manager of Moventis SARFA: Ana Gil, Head of Marketing at MOVENTIS, and a number of employees from Moventis SARFA.

 

According to Enric Gimeno, Manager of Moventis SARFA and the person responsible for collecting the award, “we want to dedicate this award to many people; first of all, to the public sector and especially the local council authorities of the 100 municipalities to which we currently provide our transport service, to the county councils, to the Regional Government of Catalonia, to Girona Provincial Council, to the Girona-Costa Brava Tourism Board, to the Chambers of Commerce of Palamós, Sant Feliu and Girona…; and, secondly, to the private sector, which has always supported us, and to our passengers, who have trusted and continue to trust in us.

And, as well, to all those people who, over the last 100 years, have dedicated or dedicate a good part of their life to SARFA, to the drivers of the present and past. This recognition is very much yours because, without you, this long journey would not have been possible”.

 

 

 

 

Moventis launches vélitY electric assisted bike rental service in Montbéliard

Moventis officially launched the “vélitY” electric assisted bike rental service in Montbéliard, France, on 19 March. This new service from vélitY forms part of the proactive policy adopted by the P.M.A. (Pays de Montbéliard Agglomeration) to promote and develop the use of bicycles in the region. As the authority in charge of mobility and responsible for public transport in the region, the P.M.A. has delegated the implementation and operation of this service to Moventis Pays de Montbéliard under a Public Service Delegation arrangement. Moventis will therefore manage this new service on behalf of P.M.A. and has renovated part of the workshop at its premises in Voujeaucourt so that it can house the 120 electric assisted bicycles

 

 

 

 

Josep Maria Martí takes part in session on Sustainable Mobility by Chamber of Commerce of Sabadell

Josep Maria Martí, the CEO of Moventia and Executive Vice-President of Moventis, took part in a session on Sustainable Mobility at companies organised by the Chamber of Commerce of Sabadell, an event that was also attended by Sergi Jiménez, Sales Manager at Circontrol.

Various topics were discussed at the conference: mobility and improving how we look after the environment; mobility in the Metropolitan Region; current regulations; and the latest trends emerging in the various mobility sectors.

Based on an analysis of the current mobility situation in the Metropolitan Region of Barcelona, a focus was placed on the average number of journeys made by the population standing at 21.83 per person per week. Two out of every three inter-municipal journeys are made using a private vehicle. One million journeys per day to enter and leave Barcelona. That’s why we need to boost public transport while also decarbonising private vehicles at a feasible and viable pace. In Catalonia, there are 5.4 million private vehicles, of which 3.5 million are cars, 889 million are motorcycles, 750,000 are lorries and 172,000 are buses, among others.

Bus transportation is third on the list of chosen travel methods among the public, with a total of 172,003 movements throughout Catalonia and behind cars, motorcycles and lorries and vans, it being the most widespread form of public transport. Josep María also mentioned the letter from British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, which he started by saying “I love buses”.

In terms of sustainability, a number of issues were discussed with direct links to regulations and the environment, as well as the transition towards clean energy with the disappearance of diesel and petrol, and the presentation of various active recovery, transformation and resilience plans promoted by the Government of Spain and the Regional Government of Catalonia, among others.

The latest trends emerging in the various mobility sectors – Public Transport, Private Transport, Goods Transportation, and Active Mobility and Micromobility – were among the other main topics highlighted by the group’s CEO at the conference, as well as the trends currently driving the entire automotive sector.

After the huge success of this sustainable mobility session, the Water, Energy and Environment Commission of the Chamber of Commerce is already planning the next event, which will take place in May to follow up with a second series of conferences. Moventia continues to play its part in promoting sustainable mobility and greater care for the environment on all our journeys.

 

Moventis TCC Pamplona receives ‘Company of the Year 2022’ Award

Moventis TCC Pamplona, a part of the Moventia group and a benchmark in sustainable mobility, has been recognised as ‘Company of the Year 2022’ in the ‘Urban Transport’ category by the specialist magazine Autobuses & Autocares at the ceremony for the 30th edition of its ‘Companies of the Year’ Awards yesterday in Madrid at IFEMA.

The company received this award in recognition of its service quality, the implementation of new technologies and its experience in public passenger transport in Pamplona and the surrounding region, where it has been operating since 2009. The award was collected by the CEO of Moventia, Josep Maria Martí, from Jesús Velasco, Director of Transport at the Municipal Association of Pamplona.

Moventis TCC Pamplona has a fleet of 160 buses fitted with all the latest technology. In this regard, it includes a powerful and updated location (OSS), ticketing, WI-FI and real-time information system based on web and mobile apps with occupancy level prediction. 

Furthermore, the company was a European pioneer in the introduction of vehicles powered by alternative energy sources with a view to achieving neutral emissions in transport (the first pilot electric bus in Europe, the first 100% electric line in Spain, etc.).

 

This award recognises the effort by Moventis TCC Pamplona to achieve total integration with society in Pamplona and its region through commitments and agreements with various entities and social stakeholders over the last 12 years.

 

All these factors helped the panel choose the company as a winner this year. The panel also appreciated the efforts by Moventis TCC Pamplona to achieve maximum satisfaction for users of this public transport service.

 

According to Ramón Palau, General Manager of Moventis TCC Pamplona, “we are extremely excited to receive this award from the specialised magazine ‘Autobuses & Autocares’, which also recognises all the hard work done by every member of the team at TCC Pamplona”. He went on to add that “this award encourages us to keep working on the development of innovative and sustainable mobility solutions every day as part of our commitment to ensuring a safe and satisfactory travel experience to all our passengers while also looking after the environment”.

Moventia launches urban transport service in Mecca

Moventia has launched its urban transport service in Mecca with a shuttle bus between Masjid al-Haram (the Great Mosque of Mecca) and Al Haramain Station (the high-speed train station in the same city). This is Phase 0 of the project and includes 35 vehicles. More lines will be steadily launched from now on until full operation is achieved with 12 lines at the end of this year.

Moventia is providing urban transportation in Mecca through the company TCC and in partnership with a consortium of Spanish and Saudi businesses. Overall, the service will include 400 vehicles (240 standard 12-metre buses and 160 18-metre articulated buses) and will create jobs for more than 1,200 people of different nationalities, mainly Saudis, Spaniards, Turks, Pakistanis, Indians, Egyptians and Sudanese.

 

This contract began in 2017 and Moventia has been managing the deployment stage until now, which includes bus manufacture, the design of embedded technology, employee recruitment and construction of the depots, with garages, control centres, offices and employee housing, among other things. The operation and maintenance stage has now been reached and will continue until 2030.

 

The Head of Operations at Moventis and General Manager of Moventis for Saudi Arabia, Jordi Castells, said “this partial launch of operations is a major milestone for progress by the project and was successfully carried out before the start of the pilgrimage season, meaning that pilgrims coming to the capital of Islam this year will benefit from a transport system designed and operated to Moventia standards. We hope to have the operation completely up and running by the end of the year to thus bring maximum benefits to the people of Mecca”.

New public bike sharing service for CityBike Global

Barcelona, February 9th, 2022, CityBike Global and the Gdańsk-Gdynia-Sopot Metropolitan Area have signed the contract for the new Mevo public bike-sharing service.  The service will have 4,200 bicycles, of which 3.100 ebikes, distributed in the 16 municipalities of the Metropolis before June 2023.

 

CityBike Global, a leading micro mobility company in Europe and Latin America, is the successful bidder for the public bike sharing service in the Gdańsk-Gdynia-Sopot Metropolitan Area, after signing the contract to implement this new service in the Metropolis. Consequently, the company reinforces its presence at European level and consolidates its international leadership in the bike sharing service that it already offers in cities such as Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Clermont Ferrand, Lima and, starting in April this year, the city of Stockholm.

In the words of Michal Glaser, president of the Metropolitan Area of Gdansk-Gdynia-Sopot, the signing of the contract with a new operator leaves behind the first stage of Mevo and the two years of hard struggle with the procedures of the Polish public procurement law. He added that the same type of bicycle will be introduced soon in Stockholm, and that these bikes are already being used in major European cities. He concluded that this would allow good cooperation and that the inhabitants of the Metropolis will be able to enjoy these bicycles in 2023.

For his part, Jordi Cabañas Faura, Managing Director of CityBike Global, expressed how interesting is this project as the metropolis of Gdansk-Gdynia-Sopot is the fourth largest in Poland, friendly to sustainable transport, people, and entrepreneurs. He also mentioned the pride that as a global company represents the fact of being able to offer these services, not only because it is a new city, but especially because it is the first project in Poland in the context of development plans in the Polish market (CBG is currently participating in the tender for the bike sharing service in the Metropolis of Upper Silesia-Zalebie), committing to do everything possible to meet its requirements. He thanked all the local authorities and, specially, the entire Mevo team in the Metropolitan Area.

CityBike Global will have until June 2023 to complete the launch of the entire system in the 16 municipalities. Kolbudy and Kosakowo also joined the 14 local governments that originally participated in the project (Gdańsk, Gdynia, Sopot, Żukowo, Reda, Pruszcz Gdański, Tczew, Sierakowice, Rumia, Somonino, Stężyca, Kartuzy, Puck and Władysławowo). Hence the increase in the number of bicycle collection and return stations, from 660 to 717.

Josep Maria on Feedbacktoday.net

 

Here is an interview with the CEO of Moventia, Josep Maria Martí, on Feedbacktoday.net in which he explains that public transport will be the backbone of mobility and announces “major investments” in private electric vehicle recharging infrastructures. You can read the full interview , here

 

Taxi Amic recognised for its work on transport services for PRM

Taxi Amic, the adapted taxi company belonging to Moventis that has partnered with TCC Transports Ciutat Comtal, has received the “award for commitment to transport services for persons with reduced mobility” at the I Catalonia Awards organised by the La Razón newspaper last December.

These awards, which recognise the work of companies and business leaders who have successfully responded to the needs of society within such a difficult scenario as the one we have today, highlight the more than 25-year track record of Taxi Amic in providing transport services to all those people who cannot use standard vehicles in the Barcelona area with an adapted mobility system that was the first of its kind in Europe.

This company offers its transport services to persons with reduced mobility via a fleet of fully adapted taxis and a one-to-one process given that the specific nature of this service requires a highly personalised response for its users. Taxi Amic drivers are not only engaged in transporting people from one place to another but also perform other roles, such as assistance and support for accessing and alighting from the vehicle, accompaniment to and from the pavement, wheelchair anchoring and safety belt use.

Furthermore, Taxi Amic not only provides its adapted transport services in the Barcelona area but also offers transfers to Barcelona Airport and the Port of Barcelona, as well as motorway journeys outside of Barcelona, exclusively to persons with reduced mobility.

As Jordi Galbán, Manager of Taxi Amic, explains “we are very happy to receive this recognition of our commitment to mobility for people who, because of a disability, are unable to use conventional public transport services. We at Taxi Amic work hard every day to offer them the best travel experience and, in short, do our bit to help build a better society”.