Why do we need Mobility of the Future?
Mobility is a challenge urban areas are facing with approximately half of the world population living there. As the population continues to grow, so do new buildings, roads, and transport systems. This means more demand for new and innovative modes of transport infrastructure. As cities continue to grow and with it transportation systems, we continue to impact our environment with transport resources that are unsustainable and have a negative impact on mother earth.
Transportation is the second largest contributor to Greenhouse gas emissions in Europe following Eurostat. At the same time, transportation is the fastest growing source of these emissions. For that reason, an overarching mobility plan has to be put into practice to study current transportation challenges and provide solutions to metropolitan and urban areas.
Today, we can already study urban mobility to a greater extent. Thanks to new digital data sources that are generated by public transport, smart cards and mobile devices. At the same time innovative transportation technologies are changing the current mobility environment.
The ‘Smart City’ is a concept that was developed to deal with some critical environmental and mobility problems that are causing an increase in air contamination, traffic, waste treatment, and energy usage. It’s a vision for a better urban area where the aim is to create a better quality of life for people. Smart Mobility is filtered by ICT to support traffic, but also to gather the opinion of people living in metropolitan areas and local public transportation services.
Mobility is essential to maintain and support the urban areas where the vast parts of our population reside, yet the means of transportation that we use today have negative effects on the quality of life in cities. Consequently, for quite some people it takes a long time to commute, causing a negative impact on the balance of work / life, not to mention the means of transport for the public in general.
For that reason, Smart Mobility is a topic that promises to benefit the quality of life and includes moderating pollution, decreasing traffic congestion, increasing people’s safety, and improving transportation speed and costs. With the help of new and upcoming technology and the participation of stakeholders, the idea of better, safer and healthier urban cities has a better chance of reaching the Smart Mobility objective to create a healthier and more prosperous society.
Smart Mobility is a solution for a natural and sustainable future. Developing alternatives to established car ownership such as car sharing, ride sharing, dial a ride services, and bus transportation services can get people where they need to go but they also help with policy problems in metropolitan areas like congestion, traffic, accidents, and pollution. New business ventures have triggered an exciting new era in transportation. The emerging on-demand transportation services like, Lyft, DriveNow, car2go and Poppy together with new urban lanes for bike riders are changing how people get to and from places.
Contributing to Smart mobility will help develop and gain strategies that will benefit our economic growth and improve quality life. It will also help decrease congestion; improve traffic and safety in cities worldwide. Efficient and effective transportation systems like BTR (Bus Rapid Transit) save travelers time, money, and reduce the risk of car accidents. Smart Mobility will considerably reduce air pollution and gas emissions as well as help low-income people and families. Economical transport systems can connect urban people to more jobs and education and increase their entrance to better opportunities.
Building the future of mobility is a responsibility we all have to take. By thinking, talking and working together we can create a sustainable society in which mobility plays a positive role. Creating a platform for this gathering is exactly what we want to reach with Mobility of the Future. We really hope you are prepared and ready to build this future together with us. We need a lot of heads and hands to make it happen!
