Thalys passengers can now choose between about 50 local taxi companies via 'My Driver By Thalys' to book connecting trains on their train journeys in each of the four countries served by Thalys high-speed trains.

Karhoo, the open mobility platform, has been selected by HSL operator Thalys to offer its new travel service for the first and last km. The Karhoo service is seamlessly embedded in the new Thalys service, which is accessible via the Thalys app and website, allowing passengers to pre-book rides from a range of local and national taxi and private hire car companies.

Thalys transports approximately 7,85 million passengers every year and connects 26 stations in France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. By integrating Karhoo's mobility service into its new taxi booking service, every Thalys passenger can compare and order rides from around 50 taxi and rental car companies. Customers can pre-book their transportation to and from the station when purchasing train tickets, or even on a journey up to 45 minutes in advance.

“We are always looking for new ways to provide better service to our customers. Offering travel to and from the station to simplify our passengers' door-to-door journeys felt like a natural extension of our customer relationships. However, customer expectations for e-hailing and mobility have risen so high that we knew that if we wanted to compete, we had to get the digital user experience just right, ”explains Bruno Dierickx, Marketing & Commercial Director at Thalys.

Thalys is not the only railway operator that wants to take advantage of the opportunities in the mobility market.

“Innovative rail operators focus on mobility to increase the quality of their offerings while introducing new sources of income; so Thalys is not alone, "said Caroline Simmerman, Karhoo vice president of business development."

Last year we helped SNCF Mobilités launch the 'Mon Chauffeur' service, which was already widely used. We also helped Renfe in Spain launch his new mobile app, 'Renfe as a Service' (RaaS). So this is certainly a trend that we expect to see grow and mature in the coming year as train operators want to expand their service to the passengers.

In the Netherlands, Karhoo has realized a link with the Pitane Mobility network. This allows travelers to seamlessly perform their last-mile taxi journey through the Karhoo network.

Also read: Pitane Mobility enters into unique agreement with Karhoo