The village of Petershagen-Eggersdorf within the mostly rural japanese German state of geographic area has veteran a vast population boom for several years currently. It currently has over fifteen,000 inhabitants, up from simply eight,000 within the early Nineteen Nineties.
A logical aspect result of the inflated flow has been additional traffic, with the next range of in private owned cars per family, per the civil authority of the dual village, Marco Rutter. that is inflicting a small amount of a drag, particularly for the growing range of senior individuals living here.
"Despite some younger people moving here, the quantity of senior voters has been rising disproportionately," Rutter tells DW, noting that the trend can become even additional pronounced within the years ahead.
"Up to 4,000 inhabitants ar currently between fifty five and sixty five years previous, which means that over consequent decade we'll have a great deal additional individuals past the age of sixty five, and a great deal of individuals World Health Organization statistically live a great deal longer."
More traffic, additional issues
Rutter points out that inflated traffic flows within the village have created a way of insecurity among the seniordriving their own cars.
Making individuals hand over driving in an exceedingly car-mad nation like European nation is kind of a challenge, even additional therefore in rural areas wherever different means that of transport aren't perpetually up to the mark.
Petershagen-Eggersdorf does not have an excessive amount of to complain concerning, though. It's connected to the S-Bahn train service taking individuals to the middle of Berlin in but AN hour. It additionally boasts a couple of standard bus lines, taking passengers to a great deal of places within the section. However, several of the seniorresidents aren't exploitation these services.
The bulk of them keep driving their own cars till their youngsters tell them it might be higher to not. several of these World Health Organization haven't got a license seek for facilitate within the family or notice one thing else to induce from A to B, says Erwin Mattauch, World Health Organization heads a regional workplace of the People's commonality, a charity taking care of senior voters.
"Some of our members, significantly senior single ladies, have issues walking even some hundred meters," he tells DW. "Some use all-electric scooters for his or her daily errands. someone else World Health Organization willhardly walk told American state he'd be finished while not his automotive as he couldn't create it to the closeststop, however such cases ar still the exception instead of the decree our cluster."
When will the longer term start?
Considering demographic forecasts, the quantity of individuals in want of additional tailored quality services canpresently be growing quick, significantly in rural areas across European nation.
Marco Rutter started wondering doable solutions even before he was electoral civil authority. above all, he has set his sights on autonomous, all-electric minibuses of the kind that have already been tested within the North American nation, France, Switzerland and different countries.
There are variety of pilot comes in European nation, as well as Birnbach in state, Hamburg and Berlin. So why not have such buses in his own community in the future, Rutter asks. They would ideally incorporate the concept of flexible virtual bus stops that are more easily reachable for people, with the buses dropping off passengers at different points along the way according to their wishes and instructions. It wouldn't quite be a door-to-door service, but almost.
Legal obstacles
Rutter says it's a pity that current German laws from the 1960s are more often than not standing in the way of making such solutions a fast reality beyond the pilot stage as taxi companies and regular bus operators might complain about violated competition rules. But with a change in legislation in the pipeline, things may look different five years from now.
"Technically, such autonomous bus services are 80 percent of the way there. There are more and more big enterprises involved in pushing more flexible mobility services, such as IBM and Deutsche Bahn [Germany's main rail operator]," the mayor says. "This means that the pressure being exerted by the business community on German policymakers will increase so that project implementations can hopefully be sped up."
Seventy-nine-year-old Erwin Mattauch from the People's Solidarity charity says his people would certainly welcome more flexible bus services. But, he adds, they would have a problem with self-driving vehicles.
Taking fears seriously
"I couldn't possibly trigger any excitement among our members for boarding a vehicle without a driver," Mattauch says. Seventy-eight year-old Anneliese Garske seems to prove him right. Although she can't drive herself because of impaired eyesight, she just can't warm to the idea of ever using self-driving vehicles.
"Wild horses couldn't drag me into a driverless vehicle," she says in a resolute tone.
But Mattauch believes future generations of pensioners will have heard, read and seen a lot more about autonomous driving. "They will most likely end up using driverless transport services without a second thought."
Seventy-four-year-old Alfred Schneider says he got his driver's license when he was 21 and still drives on a regular basis.
"But when the time comes and I'm no longer able to do so, I wouldn't be too choosy when an alternative service can pick me up any place near me and get me to where I want to go," Schneider says. "It wouldn't primarily be a question of me having faith in autonomous mobility services or not," he adds.
"Look, we've all been using trains and airplanes without being able to influence anything during the journey — so, what's the difference, if I may ask?"
