FREE NOW research reveals new mobility trends across Europe and Ireland

Mobility app FREE NOW has released new research revealing new commuting trends across Europe and the increasing demand for greener and faster transport solutions in Ireland post-pandemic. 

The research has found that 77 per cent of employees in Ireland want their companies to promote sustainable mobility alternatives to reduce carbon emissions. However, only one out of five respondents feel that their employer is interested in the emissions caused by the mobility of its employees commuting to work or on business trips. 

In order to improve the sustainability and efficiency of commuting and business travel, 63 per cent of company car owners said that they would give up their car and replace it with a mobility budget. The research also reveals that Italians are most willing to give up their private company cars, while Germans and Austrians are currently the most attached to their company vehicles.

Ireland ranks fourth on the list of European countries most willing to give up their company car, with three in four respondents saying that they would find it an appealing company benefit if their employer would finance an alternative transport mode. 

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FREE NOW offers its mobility budget solution for companies in the UK, Spain, Portugal, France and Germany, with plans to introduce it to Ireland in the near future, allowing businesses to offer employees a variety of mobility options to travel. A mobility budget works as a benefit scheme for employees and allows them to avail of a monthly allowance across different transportation modes (e.g. car-sharing, e-bikes and e-scooters) and thus significantly reduces emissions.

Overall mobility benefits are very popular for employees and rank among the top three of the most desired company benefits by respondents, along with canteen or meal allowances and a home office option as the most attractive employee benefits. In addition, 53 per cent of people in Ireland said that a mobility budget would encourage them to go to the office more often.

Niall Carson, General Manager at FREE NOW Ireland, said: “At FREE NOW we are aiming to provide passengers with a dynamic range of sustainable, low-emission and efficient transport options across Ireland and insights from our European network allow us to gauge what the future commute in Ireland might look like in line with the integration of varied transport options to our app – including a growing electric fleet and e-scooters and e-bikes, which will launch in Ireland in the near future. We want to create better cities by making them more sustainable and liveable for everybody.”