To my mind, teilAuto eG is one of the very few genuine entrepreneurial success stories to come out of the East after reunification. teilAuto started out as an association – founded in Halle, as far as I know – with the aim of reducing the number of standing, parked vehicles in public space in the city of Halle. And the concept caught on, it worked: people organised themselves, shared vehicles, ran car sharing. And it kept on developing from there – so far that now, in 2026, teilAuto has become a cooperative and – only two or three years ago, I think – launched a new free-floating service called cityflitzer!
And cityflitzer, I think, is a success story within the success story of teilAuto. Because as far as I can judge from my own experience: I’ve been testing it for several weeks now, since I take my wife to rehab and pick her up again – her knee is still giving her trouble, so getting around the city by car is easiest for her. And every single time, for every trip, we booked a free-floating car near us just a few minutes before setting off, found it, were able to park it again somewhere in the city and then book the next car. I’d have to check my app – but I reckon it was at least 50 to 60 trips, and every one of them worked beautifully.
And I think it’s unique in Germany that a company founded by citizens has established itself in the market. Because the story of teilAuto is a nice one – you can read up on it – and it wasn’t easy: among other things, Deutsche Bahn got involved and apparently either wanted to buy in or wanted to push teilAuto out and launch its own car-sharing programme – but didn’t manage it. All the big car makers failed in just the same way, German brands like VW and BMW, each with their own offers. I think BMW still has something running in Munich, and I think VW still has some start-ups and ambitions somewhere, mostly in Berlin – but in Leipzig what I see is cityflitzer.
What I find a pity is that the cities – Halle above all – aren’t ready yet to accept cityflitzer too. Because then you could commute: Halle and Leipzig are twin cities, after all, they have a lot in common, they’re only a few kilometres apart, they share the airport. So it’s the obvious thing, it just makes complete sense, for cityflitzer to launch in Halle too. And it ought to be the same in all the big Saxon cities – in Dresden, in Chemnitz: everywhere I see a huge need for cityflitzer.
Especially for the young generation, Gen Z: hardly anyone buys a car anymore. Because they can’t afford one – that’s the first reason – and the second reason is that they don’t need one. They see no need to own a private car, because in a big city like Leipzig a private car just sits around 95% of the time, getting in the way and blocking valuable urban space. And that brings us back to the Commons: why should the community pay for things that only a few people use?
That’s why: I’m celebrating cityflitzer! I know there are people – especially in the left-wing scene in Connewitz – who reject it too, who say we don’t need cars at all. Maybe so, but the transition to the car-free city should be designed so that, when you do need a vehicle now and then, you can actually get into a car. If, for example, I want to get from here in Möckern to Markkleeberg, there’s no direct public transport connection. I have to take detours and would need three quarters of an hour by S-Bahn – if I get in the car, it might take me just 20 minutes.
So I’m really happy about cityflitzer’s success. And I think one reason cityflitzer is so successful is that you simply see the cars all over the city: they stand out, so you pull out your phone, install the app and you’re practically good to go. It works really, really well – and it’s exactly the counterexample to the file boxes, those binders at that ancient education provider: here, at teilAuto, digitalisation works really well despite all the resistance. The app works really well, GPS works, the key in and out works – everything runs smoothly! So all I can say is: I’m thrilled.
What do you take away from this thought?
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