The opening of a pioneering Mobility Hotel in one of Sweden’s largest shopping and business centres will provide a focal hub for sustainable innovation and help drive the green inner-city transport agenda.
Located in the popular Nordstan centre in the heart of Gothenburg, the country’s first Mobility Hotel will facilitate the quiet and emissions-free transport of goods and people in and around the city.
The project demonstrates the potential for smart investment in combined micromobility and micrologistics, delivered at scale. As a result, Gothenburg city centre will be more spacious, cleaner and even nicer.
As part of this groundbreaking initiative, two companies moving into the ground level of the central parking garage will open a joint service store for bikes, e-bikes and electric scooters, mopeds and cargo bikes.
Citizens and visitors set to benefit will include: Customers who need parcels delivered to their homes quickly and in a more environmentally friendly way; craftspeople looking to switch from vans to smaller, more flexible vehicles in the parking garage; and anyone wanting to cycle or use light e-vehicles.
Location key to more sustainable last-mile delivery
Access is key and the Mobility Hotel is perfectly placed with direct connection to Nordstan’s underground loading street for larger vehicles. It enables efficient reloading for last-mile delivery of goods via bicycle and light electric vehicles in central Gothenburg.
The Mobility Hotel will benefit the wider community, too, explains CEO of Nordstan, Helena Lindqvist:
“The services will be a great asset for all our tenants, but also for other actors in the inner city.”
Every day, 70,000 people pass through Nordstan, located adjacent to the central station and Brunnsparken, a key public transport hub. In total, some 6,000 people have their workplace in the business centre.
Mobility and logistics, from bikes to battery swaps
On-site at Nordstan, the new hub brings together a broad range of services for mobility and logistics.
Within the store premises, Bike Fixx and Urbancorner will sell and service bicycles, electric bicycles, electric scooters and other micromobility vehicles. Next door, in the car park, GoCiklo offers electric mopeds and quick battery swaps, used by online food delivery brand Foodora among others.
There is also the bicycle transport company Pling, which offers green last-mile-delivery, as well as the wholesaler Ahlsells, with a small, unmanned warehouse for craftspeople. In addition, there are a number of transport bikes that the City of Gothenburg lends to craft and service companies.
This is just the beginning, says Anastazia Kronberg, process manager at Business Region Gothenburg:
“The unique thing about the Mobility Hotel is the high level of innovation. In addition to combining personal mobility and micrologistics in the same place, we now give craftspeople and service companies good opportunities to use micromobility and bicycles to perform their services.
“We also build bridges between mobility companies, the city, retail and real-estate industry. I am convinced new roles, value chains and business models will emerge here. This is exactly what we need for the green transition to accelerate.”
Bringing together the region, the city and business
The vision behind the Mobility Hotel is to enable the necessary transition to more sustainable transport and urban development. According to the Energy, Climate & Environment programme for the City of Gothenburg, the target goal is for motorised traffic to be reduced by 25% by 2030.
Teamwork is key to the success of such a high-profile initiative that is both innovative and integral, says Suzanne Green, Project Manager at the City’s Urban Environment Administration:
“Gothenburg is a pioneer in Sweden, and possibly in all of Europe, with this investment in collaboration on the flow of goods and people, where development, risks and successes are shared between all parties. Here we are gearing up with EU funding to achieve a long-term effect.”
Investment in the Mobility Hotel is co-financed through the EU project MOVE21, which aims to transform European cities into smart nodes for smart, clean and efficient mobility and logistics.
Bringing together the region, the city and local commercial interests, the Mobility Hotel is the result of successful link-up between the Urban Environment Administration, Business Region Göteborg and the Nordstan business and shopping centre.
Business Region Göteborg AB (BRG) is a non-profit subsidiary of Stadshus AB, which is in turn wholly owned by the City of Gothenburg. Representing some 13 municipalities in the Gothenburg region, the purpose of BRG is to strengthen and develop trade and industry in the region and attract investment.
Further Reading:
- More about the City of Gothenburg Energy, Climate & Environment programme;
- More on the the EU project MOVE21 that aims to transform European cities;
- More about Business Region Göteborg AB (BRG), a hotspot for innovation;
- More about the Nordstan business and shopping centre;
- Also on SustMeme, Charging ahead on the switch to electrified fleets;
- Also on SustMeme, First full-electric truck for inner-city logistics;
- Also on SustMeme, Decarbonising logistics: ‘Supply Chain Resilience’ in ‘The Sunday Times’;
- Also on SustMeme, Dirty Delivery: Counting the carbon cost this Black Friday;
- Also on SustMeme, Shop ‘guilt-free’ with driverless electric delivery?
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