If you want to walk from Marienplatz to Viktualienmarkt, you have to take around 500 steps, and it takes more than 1000 steps to get to Hofgarten. A challenge for many who are not good on foot – and an impossibility for some. An electric vehicle rental service is now intended to break down such barriers in the city center. “It’s a small step in the direction of: Old Town for everyone,” says mobility officer Georg Dunkel. The service is available to all citizens and tourists free of charge.
“The pedestrian zone is a no-go area for many people, that’s a contradiction in terms,” says Georg Kronawitter, a member of the Munich Advisory Board for the Disabled. In coordination with the advisory board, the mobility department and the department for labor and economics implement the rental. The project sponsor is the social enterprise Anderwerk, which employs long-term unemployed Munich residents. “We arrived exactly where we wanted to go,” said Kronawitter. He is particularly pleased about the good public connections of the new location.
Electric vehicle rentals are already available at two locations. Vehicles have been available to rent at Hellabrunn Zoo for three years, and at the Olympic Park since 2021. The offer has been very well received there, says Hubert Kurzeder, who has been with the rental company since the beginning. Older people as well as people with walking difficulties, a sports injury or pregnant women come. A young man once borrowed an electric vehicle who was planning to propose in the Olympic Park but broke his leg. The team then got photos of the engaged couple. “Try it out,” says Kurzeder, “it’s so comfortable, you won’t want to go out!”
The rental station is located behind the New Town Hall, on the corner of Landschaftsstrasse and Weinstrasse, at exit G of the U6/U3 at Marienplatz. Those interested do not need a driver’s license or proof of mobility restrictions. The e-mobile can be used Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. for a maximum of three and a half hours. Prior reservation at anderwerk.de/e-mobil or by phone on 0176 17 80 14 41.