While it is true that metropolitan transport brings with it the terrible problem of air pollution, it also brings with it mobility problems, which are at their peak during rush hour. Because of traffic jams, GDP suffers a negative impact of 2% to 4% due to the decline in productivity suffered by workers arriving late for work. To remedy the overcrowding of Europe's major cities, many cities are working to develop a Smart Mobility, that can be translated into a model Mobility-as-aService.
In this article we will look at some of the main examples of Mobility solutions in a Smart City, some of which are still in the testing phase to see what it is like. user experience.
Smart Mobility: A solution to urban mobility
In addition to being responsible for the 38% of energy consumption absorption,cars are the main consumers of oil and generate 25% of greenhouse gases. They cause pollution in urban areas, to the point where people's health is seriously endangered, as in the large cities of the world's major cities. Mumbai, the Cairo o Shanghai.
For some years now, collaborative-based companies have been flourishing in an attempt to solve the mobility problem. The greatest beneficiary in this regard has been Uber (valued at 62.5 billion dollars), which operates in 360 cities, with one million daily trips. Although in countries such as Spain the cab drivers' union has reproached the company for its unfair competition, the fact is that in the United States it has been an overwhelming success.
Another example of collaborative economy has been BlablaCar, In the case of Spain, it is living its golden age. In this case, the basis for the business to work is trust, which leads the driver to give up his vehicle and the co-driver to travel with a stranger to share expenses.
Although these two initiatives help reduce costs In the case of the customer, we cannot speak of properly integrated solutions. The following are two examples of cities that have opted for transversal solutions adapted to the city in question.
Helsinki, pioneer of the Mobility-As-A-Service system
Helsinki was the first city in the world to design a real framework for improved mobility, which integrates all transport models so that citizens can purchase “mobility packs”. In other words, so that they can select from their Smartphone the type of transport (car, bicycle, train or cab) they need in real time.
This distribution model Mobility-as-a-service is able to cover all of a customer's needs in a single interface, where services are reflected in an integrated manner. In this way, information on transport infrastructures, services, payments and other data is combined.
The Helsinki model, according to the promoters of the Maas, The aim is to bring together the capabilities of public and private entities. Thus, thanks to the collaboration and integration of all the services, it is possible to weave a user experience uninterrupted and demand-driven.
London, the Smart Mobility innovation center
In London, one of the world's most advanced multimodal transport cities, it is estimated that drivers spend more than 250 hours a year inside a car.
In an attempt to decongest the center, the Ford brand has launched a pilot program. Under the slogan “Car When you need it”, the initiative GoDrive provides on-demand access to a car from 25 locations throughout the city of London.
What does the consumer experience look like? They start by downloading the Ford app on their smartphone and choosing a vehicle. There is no fee to register, no need to rent a car for an hour or for a whole day, but rather the customer pays for exactly the minutes they have used the vehicle.
It is a one-way service, The customer does not need to take the car to the place where he/she rented it for the first time. As with the Bicing service in Barcelona, for example, the customer has to go to a nearby GoDrive point in order to leave the vehicle. In this sense, the good thing is that you don't have to waste time looking for a place to park.
The added value of this Ford project is the fact that it half of all vehicles are electric. Although the project is still in the testing phase, the automaker insists that the user experience with the electric cars is very satisfactory.
In the same city of London, we also find environmentally friendly mobility solutions, such as the Brompton smart bikes.
Through a series of sensors (developed by the company Evrythng), the Brompton bikes are capable of analyze air quality and measure the contamination of a route. In addition, thanks to an app connected to the vehicle, a distress signal is sent when the user suffers an accident. If, despite the fall, he is okay, he can indicate this via the app. Otherwise, it sends a signal to the emergency services.
And that's not all: If the user has the bike at home and the sensors detect a movement, the app automatically turns on the house lights and makes a phone call. Thanks to this solution, according to Brompton, bike theft could be prevented.
While the solutions being implemented in London are very promising, we have not yet seen an integrative design, as is the case in Helsinki. We will have to see whether, in the future, both models of Smart Mobility can learn from each other and improve not only the environment, but also the user experience..