Every Thursday at 12:00pm EST we will post a new “Question of the Week” that will address an important issue regarding Catalyzing the New Mobility in cities. We want to know your opinions on emerging trends, plaguing issues and future possibilities. The first of this series is:
Q. What do you think are the most game changing concepts or business models related to sustainable transportation in the last 15 years?
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Mobile devices, that make it easier to take and be informed on public transport
Online maps and trip planning sites have made it easier for people to organize their travel using different modes of transportation.
Smart phones agreed. RFID technology.
Without a shadow of a doubt the public bicycling systems have changed many minds. Velo Mondial has contributed greatly to this for instance in projects like Spicycles, in a time where Berlin, Barcelona, Bucharest and
Gothenburg took up this system. We had as our objective to make cycling glamorous. When Paris got the Velib, we wondered how glamorous one could get. Now also London and New York are playing this game. This has been a great success that is still developing. Velo Mondial now focuses on protecting cycling planning in schemes of sustainable urban mobility planning. This is to prevent cycling from the next wanna be mayor who promises to ‘rip out these damned cycle paths’, if you elect me.
It’s a fight between access and ownership.
Over the last 15 years people have been moving too far away from access, towards ownership. Rates of car ownership are through the roof.
As recent as the last two or three years people have been moving back. And with good reason!
The growth of carshare and rideshare schemes has been astronomical in the last few years. This has a little bit to do with all the exciting new technology enablers, for sure. But it has most to do with major macro trends like the economy, rising cost of travel, rising cost of car ownership, and increasing population density in urban centres.
So the biggest game changing concept is that mobility is now more costly than ever, both at a personal and government level, and that it will never get cheaper unless we change the game.
The best business models that come out of this are ones that address this cost by increasing efficiency, especially by leveraging access over ownership.
Highlight models in transport: http://www.Jayride.com (of course
, but also models like http://www.GoGet.com.au or http://www.DriveMyCarRentals.com.au
Highlight models in the broader macro-economy, check http://www.collaborativeconsumption.com
The general affordability of cars in the last 15 years is a game changer in terms of grid-lock in most cities.
Cars are extremely reliable, safe, desirable and now come with 5 year manufacturer warranties. And yet each coveys on average one person, 95% of the fuel consumed to move the vehicle.
The convenience of point to point travel will need to be emulated by a system that affords the benefits of what we have become accustomed to, but much smaller footprint to accommodate increased numbers who aspire to personal travel.
What the IPAD is doing for personal computing must be emulated by next generation travel solutions. The electric vehicle, with hydrogen fuel cell range extension, small footprint, is the way to go.
I think the emerging notion or concept of a customizable transportation portfolio or system that’s available to everyone so they can know about and mix and match and connect and pay for modes and services according to their changing daily needs is pretty game changing. It takes us from single choice polarized mindset into a more sophisticated system, a bit like our own personalized IT portfolio where we connect lap top to desk top to mobile phone to printer to camera to google etc, all interoperable, all made by different suppliers. And this would not have been nearly as possible without incredible information technology advances – also game changing
Addendum: I also think that the various new business models needed and being developed for this emerging sophisticated system are game changing. Fractional use, multi-mode electronic wayfinding and payment, tiered pricing mechanismz (emerging ability / potential to vary road and transport pricing to mode and impact) is game changing.
In terms of getting people out of cars, communal transport (bikes, cars, rides), coupled with recent smart phone apps, is improving the alternative* offering. More options, better matched, save time & money, more enjoyable experience. The branding of alternative transport has also improved – loved this: http://vimeo.com/7984623.
Having said that, in most of Africa, the question of New Mobility is a good one, but many places still lack decent ‘mobility’. And the emphasis is and should be on improving traditional transport systems; public transport, road networks and things as simple as potholes and sidewalks, getting people to follow the basic rules of the road.
As for BRT, even though it is far less efficient, accessible or as flexible as the well established informal transport systems, (minibus taxis, motorbike taxis, bicycle taxis) it does get existing car users off the roads, and congestion, expenditure on fuel and emissions, deeply affect everyone.
I see BRT as being the biggest game changer of the last 15 years for developing country cities (only just getting going in RSA), even though I wish governments would look more closely at ways of aiding the existing informal systems and not build BRT only roads.
Growth in many folds of Real Time Infrastructure mainly Mobile Phones, tracking systems vis-a-vis Transport Infrastructure.
I think there are two key concepts recently:
- The reorganization of the business and operational model of bus-based systems which evolved into what we now know as Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), which has improved the efficiency of a typical bus system to generate rail-like performance at a fraction of the cost.
- All “-sharing” schemes, which have now evolved into very sophisticated and useful systems of providing access to various vehicles for people who would otherwise not find another option (or would use a more polluting option!).
I suppose the next “big things” in automotization of transportation would be:
- NFC payments in public transport
- future development of car-sharing and zip-car services
- development of smart information services for all users (drivers, passengers, etc)
- development of smart computer assitants for all users (walk navigation, public transport applications, driving directions etc)
- future development of green technologies and electric cars
- M2M vehicle applications
- new safety technologies
I am worried that what I read here is ‘wishful thinking’ about what is game-changing rather than what is ‘actually’ game changing – this particularly in regard to the use of smart phones to actually deliver different mobility results.
I agree that the bike sharing systems have surprised transportation planners – they have done better than expected. But have they changed the game? Two outcomes would have shown a changed game (please suggest more if you think there are more): 1. general levels of congestion were impacted positively and noticeably; and/or 2. transportation planners accepted that they might be wrong some of the time.
Someone said that the only true innovation in transportation in the past X years was the development of suitcases with wheels on them.
Perhaps my comment will be seen as negative, but if we want to achieve real success I think we have to be realistic about the magnitude of the challenge. Are we measuring the right things to know if the game has been changed?
An addendum: I have also seen BRT provide a brilliant service and probably reduce congestion (or slow the growth of congestion). But that is an incredibly expensive way to solve the problem, adding entirely new carriageways, when there is so much underused capacity on the existing ones.
The electric bicycle has been proven in China to enable masses to commute at low cost and ease of short distance travel. The duplication of this model has been accomplished in some European countries as well as in India and Australia. The resistance in South Africa has been mainly to safety and security, two items which must be addressed. Pioneers and innovative ideas will allow this concept to also be adopted there, but it may take some time.