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19.12.19 10 INTERVIEW GoTo car sharing hits 12,000 Access over 450 shared vehicles available in Malta and Gozo and hire them direct from the street.. Register online and pre- book your car via an app. It's this ease- of-use that has made GoTo so popular. BusinessToday spoke to the company's CMO, Johnny Tominaga about their plans for the future OVER 12,000 people are now signed up to GoTo, Malta's leading car shar- ing service, and they have driven 1.8 million kilometres in 2019 – the com- pany's first full year in operation. The service, which was launched in 2018, has also contributed to saving over 1,000 tons in CO2 emissions from being created, has contributed to less traffic on the roads, and has helped local society to move towards a more shared and balanced economy. "Car sharing has clearly found its role in helping people in Malta to get from A to B," says GoTo Chief Mar- keting Officer (CMO) Johnny Tomi- naga. "The last 12 months have seen the service experience excellent uptake, and each of our cars now potentially replace 16 vehicles on the roads. 2019 has certainly been an exciting year for the mobility services start- up, and Tominaga says that the team has tested, learned, failed and evolved a lot in its time so far. It has also invested in improving its technology; implemented smarter ways of distributing its vehicles; in- creased the number of vehicles avail- able; and tried to stay as close as pos- sible to its customers. "This has meant that we have been able to grow and establish a strong presence in the competitive mobility landscape that Malta has developed into throughout this year. "And it has been an important year, with a number of key milestones in- cluding the launch of our service's Basic Plan, which was key to making GoTo accessible to more customers, regardless of whether or not they need to use shared mobility regular- ly or simply don't want to pay for a recurring subscription fee," Tominaga explains. In another milestone for the compa- ny, GoTo also launched Roundtrips, its service for pre-planned journeys. In it, GoTo started to address multi- ple consumer needs, by enabling cus- tomers to start booking trips further in advance and pay per hour, which reduced the pressure for bringing the car back. "Now, continuing to understand and address mobility needs is where we see our path for growth," Tominaga said. "That's what we hope for with the launch of our scooter fleet. With scooters, our customers can ride shorter distances more freely, and take advantage of more flexible park- ing options." Of course, the launch of GoTo's highly-successful Business Plans also helped to make the car sharing ser- vice more appealing to business cus- tomers. To date, over 50 companies have in- corporated shared mobility into their operations and offerings to employ- ees. "And along with all that, our tech- nology is constantly evolving to ac- commodate different demands and incorporate improvements into our services," Tominaga said. It is no surprise that the Maltese community is starting to respond to the benefits of car sharing. As the GoTo fleet is pooled between its users, its uptake has reduced the amount of vehicles on the road, help- ing to build an effective transport solution that lessens the time that

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