Increasing Revenues by 25 Percent — How StreetCrowd helped ReachNow to become more effective

Maximilian Mayer
Nov 5 · 6 min read

ReachNow, a carshare operator, came to us in 2018 seeking to improve the effectiveness of their operations in Portland and Seattle, US. With vehicle supply not matching demand, they were missing out on rides. They didn’t, however, want to expand their existing fleet of 1,200 vehicles. Instead we provided them with demand prediction and vehicle rebalancing services allowing them to position their fleet more effectively, increasing revenues by 25 percent. Here we explain how.

StreetCrowd enabled us to better meet customer demand, tap into unrealised potential and reach operational excellence with our carsharing operations.”

Mike Rimoin, (Former) Mobility Manager ReachNow

Challenge

  • Missed revenues
  • Reduced customer satisfaction due to lower perceived availability
  • Expanding fleet size not an option — aim to get more out of existing fleet

Supplying the demand — vehicles in the wrong place

Cars are not cheap to manufacture and a carshare vehicle that is hardly ever used is a major drag on profitability. This is particularly problematic for operators who are looking to expand. For ReachNow, simply adding more vehicles was not an option. They therefore needed to get more out of their existing fleets.

Solution

  • Crowdsourced vehicle repositioning via the StreetCrowd app

To begin with, we had to gain a better understanding of the demand for their vehicles. Importantly, this is a prediction of potential demand for a vehicle rather than simply where the shared vehicles have been popular in the past. For instance, there may be a whole load of potential customers who simply haven’t used the service before because there has never been a vehicle available. This doesn’t mean demand isn’t there, just that it was never an option.

To achieve the most accurate predictions, we combined a number of different data sources. These included our cross-operator insights from worldwide shared mobility operations from the last couple of years, point of interest information, as well as proxy data on things such as concerts and other demand distorting events. In providing a dynamic prediction model, we enabled ReachNow to fully understand their demand, providing them with the fundamental knowledge needed to get the most out of their fleet. And, with the application of our AI powered micro-rebalancing engine, vehicles eligible for relocation could be automatically identified aiding repositioning operations.

Crowdsourcing of Vehicle Repositioning

This provided them with flexibility and required far less effort on their side. The flexible nature of the work decreased the overhead costs of the operator as they were only paying for the work that was actually being done.

Complementary Use-Cases for StreetCrowd

  • Micro-rebalancing
  • Service tasks
  • Event management
  • Airport management

Micro-Rebalancing: Small Changes, Big Results

Service moves

Event management

Airport management

Results

  • 25% revenue increase
  • $35,000 in saved parking fees

Combined with other services to improve the bottom line

Crowd success

To get a better idea of the vehicle demand and supply of your service and the for more information on best practices for vehicle moves — get in touch with us here. To find out more contact us at businessdevelopment@parkbob.com.


Maximilian Mayer is Head of Business Development at Parkbob. You can connect with him on LinkedIn.

Parkbob organizes the world’s curb-side data and transforms it into actionable information to enable better mobility decisions. Want to know more? Visit the services-section on our website or get in touch with us directly in order to explore the possibilities of a cooperation!

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Parkbob

Digitizing the last mile in mobility

Maximilian Mayer

Written by

Digitizing the last mile in mobility

Parkbob

Parkbob

Digitizing the last mile in mobility

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