The shared and sustainable mobility project that keeps rolling through the towns of our country, VIVe

We're back! Today we bring you the interview that closes this period of travel. We headed to Chinchilla de Montearagón, a town located in the province of Albacete, to learn about the benefits that incorporating the VIVe shared and sustainable mobility project has brought them. This is what José Ignacio Díaz, deputy mayor of the municipality, tells us.

• How did you learn about VIVe and why did you decide to incorporate this project in Chinchilla?

  We learned about VIVe through the mayor of the municipality of San Pedro, Don Daniel Sancha. On one of the trips we make through the towns in the province, I ran into Dani using the car. I found it quite interesting and asked him for information about the project. I immediately got in touch with the dealership and we came to the conclusion that Chinchilla could be one of the best candidates due to the unique characteristics of our town. And from what we can see, time is proving us right.

What benefits has VIVe brought to the municipality and its residents?

The main benefit is having the possibility of having a vehicle at your complete disposal so that people who, for some reason, cannot have a vehicle for their daily commutes both within the town and to the nearby city of Albacete, could use this type of service. It has meant a significant improvement in the connections between our town and the centre.

If you have to leave your car at the workshop, you can get around, and those kinds of issues are also very interesting. Another benefit is being able to use it for leisure trips. I know that most weekends it is very difficult to book the vehicle because many people take it to travel to the different towns in the province for rural tourism using sustainable transport.

• Can we say then that it is an alternative to public transport in Chinchilla?

  Exactly! One of the main shortcomings of the town is public transport. We don't have our own public transport in the municipality, and journeys belong to regional routes. There is a shortage of services to Albacete that VIVe makes up for. Furthermore, at Chinchilla town hall we are fully committed to caring for the environment and sustainability. We are taking measures to reduce our carbon footprint, and VIVe, being a 100% electric car, has been the first step we have taken.

• Do you find it easy to use the app when making the vehicle booking process?

  It is a very intuitive and very simple tool. It is intergenerational. Everyone uses the vehicle and nobody has any problems. During the trial period there was very high demand, you could barely book it because of all the people using it, and now during the paid period, people have incorporated it into their lives; they know they have this service at their disposal. Having VIVe is a real win for the town!

• What do you think of the customer service offered by the team that manages VIVe?

  Customer service is perfect. So far we haven't had any problems. Any issue that has come up has been quickly resolved. Someone leaving the car without charging it or issues of that sort... Instructions were put in place and we made an explanatory leaflet so that people would know how to use the car and leave it in the same condition they found it in.

• Have you been able to talk to the residents who use VIVe? What do they think of the project?

  It has been a very well-received project among the public. Users have incorporated it into their way of life and know they have this tool available and can use it whenever they consider it necessary, subject to prior booking.

• Have the expectations you had when starting this project been met?

  They have been exceeded! Our main interest was to provide the town with a tool that would allow us to offer a service that the council could not otherwise provide. By having VIVe, residents have a resource they can turn to when they need it and can carry out their activities without having to resort to ride-sharing, where matching schedules can be complicated. It gives you the freedom to, at any given moment, with enough advance planning, have the vehicle at your disposal for your daily needs.

• Would you recommend VIVe to the rest of the municipalities in Spain? Why?

  It is a service that should be recommended. Especially in towns with a population of fewer than 5,000 inhabitants. And, above all, in what has come to be known as "emptied Spain" or "disconnected Spain". Often in these municipalities, having access to taxi or intercity transport services is complicated, and having a service where you set the limits is very versatile and very necessary to encourage people to live in rural towns and not feel the need to resort to a private vehicle for everything due to the disconnection from larger population centres.

As you can see, VIVe by Hyundai offers great benefits in the municipalities that commit to this shared mobility project. And we're not the ones saying it; below you can watch the video interview we conducted in Chinchilla where the deputy mayor himself tells us how the project works in his town.

If you think your town has the essential characteristics to be part of this great family, get in touch with us! You're one click away from making your neighbours happier!