An innovative solution combining carpooling and PT in Toulouse

In Toulouse, Karos Mobility provides a carpooling mobile app integrated with the PT network, to offer more sustainable mobility solutions in a context of fast urban growth (around 15,000 new inhabitants per year).

We want to improve accessibility of business sites by extending the reach of PT, which as of now is still limited for people in suburban areas given that 48% have poor access to PT. With no other option, 85% depend on the car to commute. By reducing the use of private cars, Karos also contributes to fighting traffic jams and reducing the environmental impact of daily trips in Toulouse.

We use a complete deployment method based on tailored communications, field promotions, mobility consultants, and financial incentives to change mobility habits of commuters in Toulouse.

Karos Mobility designed an intermodal calculator integrating the 10 main transit lines in Toulouse, enabling users to directly reach a metro, bus, or tramway stop by carpooling. We deployed in Toulouse our state-of-the-art technology based on 8 years of R&D, using AI and geolocation to match the best possible carpooling partners according to their schedules and itineraries.

We provide a SaaS platform enabling the city of Toulouse to monitor use in real-time, gave access to personalised communication kits, as well as set financial incentives and gamification on the mobile app. We also offer a customisation of the app, with the logo of Tisséo on the hub screen, a graphic charter fitting with its red colours, and a photo of Toulouse on the welcome page.

Between January and September 2022, we brought to Toulouse an innovative shared mobility solution able to pull together a strong community of 17,000 users. We managed to anchor the carpooling practice in commuting habits: over 43,000 carpools and 34% of our users made at least 10 trips per month.

Our solution improved the connection to low-density areas lacking in PT: 64% of the municipalities served had less than 250 inhabitants/km². We increased users’ purchasing power, saving 34,354 litres of petrol (in the wider context of oil prices soaring, no less), while financial incentives set by Tisséo lowered the price of carpool trips. Karos helped reduce the environmental impact of commuting (85.2 tons of CO2 saved) by removing cars from roads (626,200km of solo car journeys avoided).