FAQs

CleverShuttle is combining individual transportation with an innovative sharing philosophy to offer eco-friendly rides at affordable fares. This makes CleverShuttle a trailblazer in establishing a new kind of inner-city transportation.

Consider us an intelligent shuttle service that will conveniently transport you door to door if needed.

We developed an optimization algorithm that allows us to pool guests with similar routes in order to get them to their destinations efficiently and affordably. Potential detours during shared rides will not exceed 50%. This means that shared rides won’t take much longer than direct routes. We will never increase the affordable, fixed price guaranteed by us before the ride, even if no other passengers join the ride.

Our transportation service is highly efficient due to the sharing principle and our IT system. This enables us to maximize the passenger capacity of the vehicles and reduce empty rides. We pass on the benefits of this efficiency to our passengers in the form of affordable fares. Even if no other passengers join the ride.

There are two reasons why CleverShuttle is the most eco-friendly transportation service today:

1. We only have very eco-friendly vehicles in our fleet, such as electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids, and hydrogen vehicles. On top of that, CleverShuttle partners with Atmosfair to provide CO2 compensation through CDM Gold certified projects.
2. The sharing philosophy (i.e., pooling passengers) leads to less traffic because more people share one vehicle. By bundling similar routes, every trip with a CleverShuttle can replace up to four inner-city car trips with conventional combustion engines.

CleverShuttle is the brainchild of three childhood friends from Berlin who made their vision of sustainable and affordable transportation a reality. The concept and the resulting CleverShuttle product was initially supported by friends and family of the three founders, subsequently joined by private investors as well as Deutsche Bahn as a strategic investor.

CleverShuttle ist seit Anfang 2016 in München und Leipzig verfügbar. Im Sommer 2016 startete CleverShuttle in Berlin.

CleverShuttle has been available in Munich and Leipzig since the beginning of 2016. In the summer of 2016, CleverShuttle started operations in Berlin.
In Munich, the service is offered Monday through Thursday from 3 p.m. to 2 a.m., Fridays and Saturdays from 3 p.m. to 4 a.m., and on Sundays from 3 p.m. until Midnight.
In Leipzig, the service is available Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m., Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 a.m., and on Sundays from 10 a.m. until Midnight.
In Berlin, the CleverShuttle is available Monday through Thursday from 3 p.m. to 2 a.m., Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 a.m., and on Sundays from 10 a.m. until Midnight.
CleverShuttle is continuously striving to extend its hours of operation and locations based on demand. We will be expanding to more German cities in the near future. Click here for more information.

This depends on how many other passengers book a similar route with CleverShuttle at the same time as you. It is quite possible that you will be the only passenger. In general though, there will be one or more other passengers.

This depends on how many other passengers book a similar route with CleverShuttle at the same time as you. But generally speaking, the vehicle will stop just once before you arrive at your destination.

We guarantee that passengers will not be subjected to detours of more than 50% in terms of the time it takes. So for example, if a direct route would normally take you 10 minutes, then the CleverShuttle would generally not take longer than 15 minutes.

CleverShuttle is a ride sharing service and not a taxi service. CleverShuttle is licensed as a rental car that comes with a driver. There are many legal differences between a taxi service and CleverShuttle. We hope that you will understand that CleverShuttle is not as flexible as a taxi. For example, it is generally not possible to make unscheduled stops (like stopping at an ATM) or change the route at a moment's notice. Instead, we offer our guests unbeatable prices. Much like a bus driver who would not make a stop just so you can withdraw money from the ATM ;).

Yes, CleverShuttle has all the necessary permits, particularly those that relate to the commercial transport of passengers (§ 2 para. 6, § 2 para. 7 and § 49 para 4 PBefG).

Yes, the CleverShuttle app has to be installed in order to book a trip. It is currently available for Android and iOS systems and can be downloaded for free from the relevant app store.

The CleverShuttle app is currently available for Android and iOS. We are planning on developing a Windows and a web-based version, but no date for publication has been set yet.

Yes, as long as the tablet is using an Android or iOS operating system.

No, you are not required to register in order to use the transportation service. After downloading the app, you can immediately book a ride without registering. However, in order to take full advantage of the various additional benefits of our app and service, we recommend you register for free. This shouldn't take more than three minutes. Registering using Facebook takes only one minute.

You can register for free in our system by using the CleverShuttle app itself. All you need to enter is your name, email address, and your phone number. When you register with Facebook, we only require your phone number. After registering successfully, you need to validate you e-mail address and log in (don't forget to check you spam folder). Then you get to enjoy all the additional advantages of our app and service for registered users.

After registering, you can do the following on any device:

• Recruit friends and get credits
• Benefit from various promotional campaigns
• Store and automatically use payment information
• Contact your driver at any time
• Receive a receipt by email
• Save addresses as favorites and use them when booking
• Collect bonus points (CleverPoints) and receive credits.

Recruiting friends pays off! As a registered customer, you can share your personal six-digit Tell-a-Friend code with friends on your profile in the CleverShuttle app. For example, you can share the code in the app via WhatsApp or SMS. As soon as your friend registers with your code, he or she will receive a €15 EUR credit. And after his or her first ride you will receive a credit for €5 - for every friend you recruit!

You can conveniently edit your profile using the app.

No. The CleverShuttle app is mandatory for using our transportation service. It can be downloaded for free from the relevant app store for Android and iOS. Please also note that our vehicles can not just simply pick you up off the street without prior booking.

Book in three easy steps:

1. Enter the pickup location and destination.
   
2. Enter the number of passengers and send the booking inquiry.
   
3. Confirm the drive suggestion.
   

Our system needs this information to match it with the number of available seats in the vehicle, so that it can find the right shared ride for you, or to allow it to assign additional suitable passengers to join the ride later on.

We have set up collection points at some central and busy locations in order to make it easier for you and the driver to find each other. If your pickup location or destination address is within such an area, the CleverShuttle app automatically assigns the collection point as the start or destination address. A walking route from your current location to the collection point will be shown in the app.

There are two reasons for the countdown:

1. Our system works dynamically and is always searching for the car that is currently best suited for you. After 20 seconds, the position of a vehicle may have changed significantly, making it unsuitable for you.
2. During the countdown, the offered car is exclusively reserved for you and is not available to other passengers for the duration.

Generally speaking, your car will arrive just a few minutes after booking. The exact arrival time can be viewed in the CleverShuttle app. Please bear the arrival time in mind and make sure you are at the pickup location on time. Out of consideration for other customers, the CleverShuttle can not wait for extended periods.

Yes, the app shows the vehicle on its way to you in real time, including the estimated time of arrival.

It is important that you show up on time at the pickup location. Our drivers can not wait for you, as this would inconvenience other passengers who are sharing the ride with you, or those who have already booked your car after your trip. If you are late, your fellow passengers or the next passengers will have to wait. We can not and do not want to do that to our passengers. Please understand that the driver will continue the trip without you if you are not at the agreed pickup location on time.

If you have received this message, it generally means that the driver is currently unable to access the pickup location designated by you. For this reason, your booking was probably already canceled by our system. Please check if you have selected a public place that is easily accessible by car and book again. You may also contact our customer support team at any time. They can most likely provide you with more detailed information on what went wrong.

Yes. In many instances, it makes sense or becomes necessary to deviate from the route originally displayed to you due to heavy traffic or possible road closures. In addition, dynamically determined shared rides with other passengers may make it necessary to change the route. But thanks to our fixed price guarantee, we will never charge you more for changed routes. You can always ask your driver about the selected route.

CleverShuttle is a sharing transportation service. For this reason, it is particularly important to us that all passengers are comfortable. Unruly behavior could be bothersome to our driver and other passengers, which is why our drivers can decide on a case by case basis whether or not they wish to transport passengers under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Please understand that we can not tolerate improper behavior, and please be respectful towards your fellow passengers and driver.

CleverShuttle is the most affordable transportation service in Germany.

The price is based on tiered kilometer pricing and is also dependent on the number of booked seats. Possible delays due to traffic jams or detours for the transport of other passengers are not charged to the customer. This time-independent price formula allows us to give our customers a fixed-price guarantee.

Yes, the fixed price is displayed in advance and does not change, even in the event of traffic jams or other delays. The fixed-price guarantee gives you full cost transparency at all times.

You may pay cash to your driver or conveniently use a credit card, PayPal, or a credit via the CleverShuttle app.

No, you always pay for the direct route from your pickup location to your destination. If there are detours, you will not be charged for this.

Safety is our top priority. All of our drivers are subject to strict controls and regular training. Furthermore, with the completion of the beta test we only use licensed drivers with a passenger transport permit. The vehicles are licensed and are regularly serviced. Of course, all passengers are insured when riding with CleverShuttle.

Data and information security has been one of the core issues during the design and development of our IT system. We always take numerous measures (firewalls, encryption, etc.) to protect your personal data as best as possible. More detailed information on data protection is available under Privacy Policy.

Our passengers generally return found items immediately to our local operators. Please send us an email to [email protected] to inquiry about the lost item(s). We hope you understand that we cannot be held liable for lost items. Always check if nothing was left behind before you exit the CleverShuttle.

For the CleverShuttle app to work properly, we need to be able to pinpoint your current location. This localization is provided by the operating system of your smartphone. For precise navigation, we strongly suggest you enable the GPS and WLAN location service of your smartphone (you can do so under settings locations).

There can be many reasons why your booking didn't work. Some of which may have to do with your location. For example, our system will always reject the booking if your pickup location (or destination) is outside the designated area of operation. And of course it is not possible to book in a city where we don't offer our service in the first place. However, in some instances our system may also reject bookings with permissible pick-up locations and destinations. This may be the case if your pickup location is too far from your current location. In such cases, we do not think that you can get to the specified pickup location on time.

If you forgot the password for your CleverShuttle account and can no longer log in, you may request a new password for the CleverShuttle app. This password will be randomly generated by our system and sent to the e-mail address on file. We recommend you log in immediately with this password and set your own new password.

In order to allow other passengers to enjoy punctual service, we may block certain devices due to repeated delays and non-appearance, so that we can maintain our quality of service. Devices may also be blocked due to technical attacks against our system (e.g., use of bots) or systematic misuse of credit and promotional campaigns. Please contact our customer support if you wish to remove the blocking (e.g., e-mail to [email protected]).

Dogs and cats shed, which some people might be allergic to. We do not allow pets for this reason.

1. Please be ready at the pickup location on time. Our cars cannot wait for you due to connecting and shared rides. Your car's drive to your location and arrival time can be conveniently checked with the app.
2. Please be courteous and tolerant towards other passengers and your driver. CleverShuttle is a sharing service and it is very important to us that all passengers and our drivers feel comfortable without exception.