The iMo project individualised location-Based transportation services for elderly people in rural areas

In an ageing society, enhanced mobility solutions are needed to facilitate an independent living and to support out-of home mobility of the silver generation. The project "immer Mobil"-"be always Mobile" enables senior citizens to use up-to-date and enhanced mobility offers in rural areas in a very convenient and easy way. The key concept of "immer Mobil" is to improve the matching between transportation needs and transportation services by specialised telematics, information and communication technologies. In addition to traditional public transportation services, these new approaches provide alternatives like community transportation, private transportation services or hailed shared taxis. The end-users can select and order individualised trips optimised to meet their personal requirements by pushing a button. "immer Mobil" is a worldwide inimitable research project that is supported by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. In 2011, a technical system test as well as a field test was carried out in the rural districts Rosenheim and Traunstein, to analyse the real efficiency of the "immer Mobil"-system. In the beginning, the main target group is elderly people. A successively extension of the system to other target groups is considered.