idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
idw - Informationsdienst
Wissenschaft
The user-centric on-demand mini-bus service WeeDRIVE has officially begun operation in Limassol on 6 October 2025. The service introduces an inclusive and sustainable mobility solution tailored to the needs of families and teenagers. With this, metaCCAZE partners in the Cypriot Mission City aim to reduce the use of private cars for adolescents’ after-school transport and encourage a shift toward more sustainable mobility practices in the city.
Five minibuses (soon to become nine) are now fully operational, offering a flexible, safe, inclusive, and on-demand transport service that transfers adolescents to their activities throughout Limassol, ensuring city-wide coverage. Through the WeeDRIVE mobile app, families can easily pre-book rides, monitor their kids’ location while on board, and receive real-time notifications confirming pick-up and drop-off.
The WeeDRIVE platform utilises state-of-the-art fleet management and AI-based dynamic routing algorithms to match the demand with the supply. The mini-bus drivers, through the dedicated driver app, get the daily routes and are navigated to reach pick-up locations efficiently.
The platform also includes a web-based management platform for bus companies to register fleet and drivers, assign vehicles, monitor real-time vehicle locations, schedule operations, and track kilometres and driving hours. The platform is also supported by a Digital Twin for continuous optimisation and business analytics capabilities.
Each minibus is equipped with modern accessibility and comfort features, including USB and USB-C ports for each seat, electric doors, ensuring a safe and convenient service for all users. There are also mini-buses equipped with ramps, while the drivers have received extra training to accommodate special needs that passengers may have, ensuring a service accessible to all teenagers.
Marketing campaigns have been launched to raise awareness. The local metaCCAZE team has visited the high schools of the city, demonstrating the app and the buses, while also educating adolescents about sustainable shared and connected mobility. Visits to extra-curriculum activity centres and street events are also organised.
Ahead of the official launch, multiple testing phases were successfully conducted, alongside driver training sessions. In addition, traffic counts by drones were conducted by Mobilysis and the data supported MaaSLab to run simulations for the preparation of the service.
MaaSLab is responsible for the WeeDRIVE platform. The WeeDRIVE platform is a scalable platform that could be applied to any environment to offer user-centric flexible on-demand shared mobility allowing also integration with public transport and other shared modes. EMEL is responsible for providing the buses and the drivers. Limassol Municipality is responsible for awareness and maximisation of the marketing campaigns. Oxygono supports with the organisation of events. NEXTBIKE Cyprus also supports and promotes the initiative.
What citizens say
“By combining research, innovation and user-centric design we offer a cutting-edge transport alternative for Limassol, aiming to reduce emissions and the number of vehicles from the network, bringing Limassol closer to achieving climate neutrality.” says Prof. Maria Kamargianni, Director of MaaSLab.
“It is such a cool service. I feel like a geek using it.” stated a teenage user.
“This is exactly what families need! A safe and innovative service that we can trust to transfer our kids. Our stress level has gone down by far and our daily life is much simpler! I do not spend my afternoons stuck in traffic anymore.” say the parents of two teens who use the service.
The innovators behind Limassol’s on-demand transport
The successful launch of this new on-demand transport mode in Limassol is the result of months of coordinated effort among talented researchers, professionals and partner organisations. Spearheaded by MaaSLab, EMEL, Limassol Municipality, Oxygen for Democracy, Nextbike Cyprus, and Mobilysis, the project brought together a dedicated team including Kleanthis Kapsas, Nikolas Balotis, Nikolas Poyiadjis, George Kallinikos, Smaragda Christodoulou, Anne Patricio, Antonis Lentzakis, Xanthi Charalambous, Maria Paipai, Penelope Vasquez Hadjilyra, Stefanos Emilianou, Theodora Betsidou, Erfan Besharat, Shiona Mouyiaris, Ioanna Kaparelioti, George Kyriakou, Nicolas Kyriakidis, Angeliki Kouri, Avgoustinos Kitromilidis, Neofytos Ioannou, Antonis Nicolaidis, Manos Barbounakis and Maria Kamargianni, whose collective commitment made this new transport mode possible.
More about the metaCCAZE Trailblazer City, Limassol
Alongside the on-demand mini-bus service, the metaCCAZE partners are co-developing three additional innovative services to reduce peak-hour traffic and urban congestion:
• A shared e-bike service
• A multimodal passenger hub
• An integrated Internet of Things (IoT) platform for energy and transport
More about metaCCAZE
metaCCAZE is a Horizon Europe project supported by the European Commission under grant agreement No 101139678. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. metaCCAZE is a project under the CIVITAS Initiative, an EU-funded programme working to make sustainable and smart mobility a reality for all, and contributes to the goals of the EU Mission Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities.
As one of the project partners Steinbeis Europa Zentrum is responsible for the dissemination of the project results within the international specialist audience, but also to the general public, as well as for the financial project coordination.
Media contact
More information about the mobility solutions developed in Limassol:
Xanthi Charalambous, Marketing Manager (x.charalambous@maaslab.org),
Theodora Betsidou (th.betsidou@maaslab.org)
More information about the metaCCAZE project:
Adélaïde Chopard (adelaide.chopard@steinbeis-europa.de)
Xanthi Charalambous, Marketing Manager (x.charalambous@maaslab.org)
https://www.metaccaze-project.eu - website metaCCAZE
https://www.instagram.com/weedrive/ - WeeDRIVE service Instagram
https://www.facebook.com/WeeDriveapp - Facebook
Criteria of this press release:
Journalists, all interested persons
Energy, Social studies, Traffic / transport
transregional, national
Research results, Transfer of Science or Research
English
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