Spanish rail giant Renfe is launching a new one-stop shop transport app, integrating train, subway, taxi, PHV and scooters, among other means of transport.

Karhoo co-CEO Nicolas Andine

The ‘Renfe as a Service’ (Raas) app is currently being piloted in journeys between Madrid and Barcelona and will be fully rolled out across Spain in 2020, providing users with live waiting times, journey modifications alerts, and additional services during the trip.

Ride booking and e-hailing platform Karhoo is playing a key role in the launch, providing first- and last-mile transport for the app. Under the partnership, the 30,000 taxis and private hire vehicles (PHV) on the Karhoo platform in Spain will be integrated into the app, enabling  Renfe clients to organise their journey from start to finish, aggregating any transfers through a single payment, all without leaving the application.

Karhoo, which also partnered with the French railways SNCF this year on first- and last-mile travel and MaaS, was chosen by Renfe for its regional capability.

Last month also saw Karhoo partner with Iomob, a software provider for Mobility as a Service (MaaS), to offer vehicles as part of Iomob’s projects throughout Europe, while earlier this year, Karhoo partnered with major Spanish corporate mobility provider Taksee to extend the latter’s e-hailing and booking capabilities across Europe.

Karhoo co-CEO Nicolas Andine said: “Mobility as a Service is going to transform how we travel all around the world in the years to come.

“People are increasingly looking for quicker, cheaper, more sustainable and more convenient ways to get from A to B, and the first and last mile of a journey can often be the most stressful.

“Through this innovative partnership with Renfe we will enable Spanish travellers to seamlessly plan their travel from the moment they step foot outside their front door until the moment they reach their final destination.”