Toyota Financial Services has partnered with carpooling technology company Faxi to help reduce single-occupancy journeys in Hamburg.

The project can help drive carpooling by providing incentives

The project uses mobile app technology from London-based Faxi, which verifies where journeys have been shared. This not only means that the driver gets reimbursed for fuel and wear and tear but can also enable organisations to provide specific incentives, such as free parking or other financial benefits. It can also provide data to local and central governments on the congestion and environmental savings that are being generated by carpooling.

The technology is being supported by Toyota Financial Services and Toyota Insurance Management and is being offered in Hamburg, to support the MOVE project launched by the city in 2017.

A recent project in the UK was found to have increased co-worker car-pooling from less than 10 to over 200 passengers and drivers in just six months.

Tony Lynch, chief executive and co-founder of Faxi, said that offering reserved parking to co-workers who carpool was enough to encourage drivers to publish their commute to co-workers.

He added: “While the Faxi technology is complex, the policy is very simple. We believe this partnership with Toyota can benefit 3,000 large employers in Germany and up to nine million daily commuters. Germany is aggressively looking to tackle the car emissions problem and we’re looking to be a big part of that solution with Toyota.”