Smart Mobility: Backbone for Smart and Urban Cities

New business models appeared by the sharing economy and new technologies are entering in a new age in transportation: the age of smart mobility. The emergence of on-demand ride services, real-time ridesharing services, car-sharing programs, and bike-sharing programs are modifying the way in which people commute.

Components of Smart Mobility Ecosystems 1. Ridesharing (or carpooling)

This model exploits the abundant still underused resources: empty car seats. This mode does not include any new vehicles to the ecosystem. Due to this reason, it could aid in cutting down the traffic congestion that grips the majority of the cities today. Unfortunately, carpooling has witnessed an overall decline over the years.

The concept of ridesharing is revolutionizing the way in which empty passenger seats in vehicles are occupied. These empty seats in cars show a massive source of waste in our transportation framework. Though, it also offers a massive possibility for enhancements. Technological advancements are already ready to enhance the experiences of customers.

2. Bicycle Commuting

This model has gained high popularity in the last few years, especially in Europe and in cities with comparatively flat terrain, large miles bike lanes, and other cycling frameworks. In order to commute some miles or less, biking is regarded as the quickest mode to reach the destination.

The major obstacle to high bike commuting in major cities is road safety. However, few European cities have managed this issue in unique manners. For example, in Copenhagen, biker safety has improved considerably due to enhancements in the biking framework like reliable bicycle traffic lights, broader bike lanes in congested regions, and an exhaustive regional bike planning method that connects the complete network of bike lanes together across the cities.

3. Car Sharing

This method is empowered by emerging technology that enables organizations and peoples to rent cars based on time. The car-sharing approach is modifying how the urban population across the nation gets around. These programs provide consumers all the advantages of automobile ownership without incurring high fixed prices like purchase, parking costs, maintenance, and insurance.

The high growth of car-sharing is apparently changing the transportation system in urban regions. The massive traction and adoption of car-sharing should be no surprise. This is because autos are not anticipated to be substituted anytime in the future as the “personal vehicle” of choice.

4. On-Demand ride services

Companies like Uber, which enables regular motorists to utilize their personal cars to provide prearranged transportation services. These services, empowered by mobile and GPS technologies, are making the taxi market more competitive in nature. The market for on-demand rides is comparatively new and growing very fast.

These are online platforms created by companies in the transportation domain including Uber, SideCar, and Lyft. These platforms enable passengers to source rides from many drivers that utilize their personal vehicles.

Who Benefits by Smart Mobility? 1. Travelers

Improving the travel experience in urban regions and enhancing the reliability of journey times and prices for citizens and enterprises, to develop a more vibrant and eco-friendly city.

2. Transport Operators

In order to strike a balance between demand supplies to safe enhanced functionality, enable more effective usage of transport resources, support alternative mediums of travel and create more friendly ecosystems for urban transport systems.

3. Urban planners

Enhancing future framework planning and transport services based on the real and obtained data about travelers' demand and behaviors.

4. City governments

Creating economic development from the improvement of an economic sector aimed at technology, data, and information. Combined together, these advantages add to the enhancement of an urban agenda on the basis of functionality, humanity, ecology, and economics.

Conclusion:

Smart mobility has increasingly become a trend across urban cities. It emerged as an agenda in order to manage the impacts of transportation systems in cities. It is regarded as a major factor for cities to become smarter, making it essential to recognize drivers to enhance mobility intelligence.

Smart Mobility has an important role to play in urban development. The deployment of an effective public transport system can address various congestion issues. However, Smart mobility goes one step ahead. Some solutions are built on searching for new and eco-friendly ways to offer mobility to people in cities, like the development of public transport boosts that ecosystem. 

Sustainability & smart cities are inter-related concepts and it is not inefficient to manage smart mobility without associating it with aspects of sustainability. Still, mobility is extensively cited as one of the very intractable & global limitations faced by cities around the world.