In industrialized countries, mobility represents one of the most important sources of CO2 emissions. Most research on promoting sustainable, climate-friendly modes of transportation has focused on urban areas. Rural areas-although characterized by high dependency on individual car ownership and usage-have received less attention. This article explores the potential role of rural employers in supporting sustainable alternatives to commuting by (single-occupied) motorized vehicles among their employees. We conduct a collective case study that considers five employers located in Eastern Austria (Burgenland), drawing from multiple data sources including structured surveys, expert interviews, focus groups, and site visits. Our analysis shows that employers have little incentive to implement measures that foster sustainable mobility among their employees. On the one hand, the costs accruing to employers for implementing such measures tend to exceed the corresponding benefits by a significant margin (unlike in urban areas where significant cost reductions can arise for employers). On the other hand, also employees generally exhibit little demand for such measures. We conclude that both from a societal and a business perspective, it is not efficient to promote sustainable mobility in rural areas via employers.

This thesis aims to create a first draft of a value-driven business model describing a mobility service for areas outside cities, which uses self-driving vehicles. The methodology used to fulfil the aim is based on service design thinking. User studies are conducted using qualitative interviews to explore the mobility needs and behaviour in rural areas. This is then combined with a morphological analysis, which is used as a structuring method for creating new business model concepts for the mobility service. Finally, stakeholder interviews are conducted in order to revise the developed business model and to find out their opinions about the proposed mobility service. The resulting mobility service is a feeder-service that includes self-driving vehicles, operated by the public transport authority. The study shows that a concept with self-driving vehicles like this would meet the users' mobility needs. Regarding the implementation of the service, stakeholders involved have driving factors that could facilitate the implementation, such as cost savings, increased accessibility, rural development, and environmental aspects. However, some barriers are identified as well, that mainly concerns the sparse structure and long distances in rural areas, the dimension of the vehicle fleet, laws and regulations, but also the psychological barriers such as acceptance of the users to go from using their own car to utilize self-driving vehicles in a mobility service.