In rural La Rioja, there is now a new system to share journeys in car available through the RuralCar app, where users may join the trend to share cars between private individuals to travel to other municipalities or to join public transport services.

Thus, the mobility app RuralCar adapts to the needs of low-populated areas of La Rioja, integrating information on the different types of transport in the region, supplementing the scope of shared projects. 

RuralCar landed on app stores last February, as a result of the collaboration between Redeia and El Hueco, entities that are now joined by the Government of La Rioja, which is financing the specific changes enabled for the region.

The General Directorate for Infrastructures joins this initiative in the framework of the new rurality projects within the Regional Strategy of the Government of La Rioja in face of the Demographic Challenge.

The general director for Infrastructures, Vicente Urquía; the general director for Rural Development and the Demographic Challenge, Nuria Bazo; the manager of Social Innovation at Redeia, Juan Ávila, and the director of social innovation in rural areas of El Hueco, Joaquín Alcalde, have presented today the mobile app RuralCar seeking to offer more mobility options to residents in any municipality in La Rioja who may share journeys in personal vehicles.

Vicente Urquía, who manages regional public transport services from the General Directorate for Infrastructures, highlighted during the presentation of RuralCar that “we are promoting mobility in rural areas now more than ever, and the fact that several public and private transport formulas can be combined multiplies the number of available options, an area where the adaptation of the app to La Rioja is pioneer in Spain”.

As he explained, “shared cars are more useful in the last tranche of the transport network, where we are decidedly commited through the implementation of the rural bus, which in many cases is being offered as an on-demand service, since the app extends the options available to these users”.

App available for free on Apple Store and Google Play 

RuralCar can be downloaded for free on Apple Store and Google Play. The app has a simple interface so it can be used by elderly people, people with low vision or not very familiar with new technologies, thus improving their quality of life and independence. 

It uses a language without jargon aimed at a basic reading level and its design is adapted to people with sight problems, offering extra readability with a large font size and big icons.

RuralCar is also designed as a virtual notice board for the rural environment, through which any person may offer to give a lift to someone in their car for a particular journey, ask for help for an errand, sell items or even ask for or offer a service (picking up firewood, cleaning, brickwork, ...). 

The app segments by area or region the information relevant for its inhabitants and sends them alerts and notices on their phone.

Pioneers in the rural mobility challenge 

“In the context of this digital, environmental, cohesive and egalitarian recovery, the circumstances are right for the Government of La Rioja, rural municipalities and people living in rural areas to join forces towards achieving this shared goal demanded by society: transition towards sustainable mobility”, highlighted the General Director for Rural Development and Demographic Challenge, Nuria Bazo. 
“All Administrations are united in this challenge to offer mobility solutions to all inhabitants in all areas in the territory, providing alternatives to private cars, that must be sustainable from a social, environmental and economic perspective, bearing in mind the particularities of each territory. From the new rurality, we are driving the creation of a sense of community and building networks, also when it comes to mobility", stated Bazo. 

The person responsible for Social Innovation at Redeia, Juan Ávila, added: “Reducing depopulation and reactivating the economy of rural Spain requires that its inhabitants enjoy the same services as those in urban areas, as is the case of mobility. RuralCar covers that need and we therefore collaborate with this app, because as an eminently rural company we are committed to creating life opportunities for our towns and villages".

“La Rioja places itself in the avant garde of Spain in finding solutions to mobility problems, one of the biggest challenges in rural areas. RuralCar is precisely a tool that may help to alleviate them since it offers a wide range of possibilities to go from town to town in the same platform, integrating public and private services, known as “car sharing”. We encourage people living in La Rioja to install the app on their phones and to make use of it. The more people download the app, the more useful it will be”, commented the director of El Hueco, Joaquín Alcalde.