On-demand Ridepooling in Málaga, Spain

With the goal to help provide a more equitable mobility service in Málaga’s surrounding districts, Shotl signed an agreement with Avanza (part of the Mobility ADO Group). The purpose of this partnership is to transform a former standard bus line into a more flexible on-demand service, in order to provide better access to basic amenities, particularly the area’s hospital.

The operation began on October 8th 2018 and it is available for over 30,000 people, living on the west side of Málaga. The town of Cártama (23.000 inhabitants) and the western Málaga neighborhoods of Santa Rosalía and Maqueda (10.000 inhabitants) were previously connected to the hospital by a single bus line with an hourly frequency; from 7:30h to 15:30h. Each trip would stop at every bus shelter, where in many cases no passengers would board the vehicle. As patterns of demand presented a certain unpredictability, it was hard to make changes to the schedules or the route without affecting the level of availability. 

Shotl simulations helped to process existing data on the origins and destinations of previous trips and the conclusion was that an on-demand service would help reduce trip times by up to 50% on average while increasing the levels of demand.

Local users only need to download the Shotl App from Google Play or the App Store, sign up and start requesting all their rides by choosing their pick-up and drop-off locations among a network of bus stops. Shotl algorithms dispatch every ride in real time through the most efficient route within a designated area of service.

Today, we’re proud to be part of the solution, providing better access to basic services. This means citizens can access health and education amenities in a much faster and efficient way.