Rationalising the road ahead
After visiting Smart City Expo 2018, I was amazed by the number of vehicles in display. There were four wheels motorcycles that look like a mini-car, kick scooters that look like mini-motorcycle, driverless buses, e-trucks… even our parent company had their cute scooters in display (needless to say we love them).
I understand the need for micro mobility and the appeal of finding “last mile” solutions, but the problem is that there is an awful lot of miles between first and last, and within those miles, a lot of inefficiency, a lot of empty seats.
The Metropolis Lab is tackling these problems head on, albeit in a small scale for now. Our vision is simple: Nothing should be on the road if it does not have to be. Before we add any kind of vehicle to the fabric of the city, we need to rationalise the use of what is out there already.
Our two main projects are essentially two sides of the same “rationalisation coin”. With Bus on Demand we aim to create a platform for cities to provide public transportation for the 21st century. Rather than big empty buses running the same route during peak and off-peak hours, smaller buses that can follow the demand, with data helping to deliver more or less supply in realtime.
Our commuter ride-sharing solution aims to take that idea (sharing a vehicle) from the public to the private transportation network, blurring the lines between them. If built correctly (and we are starting our tests now to prove we have done so) the platform becomes an invaluable tool for reducing the number of cars in the road, and to reduce the level of noise and stress from our unavoidable everyday tasks, from going to the office to dropping the kids at school.
Keep an eye on this space as we will update it with the progress of our tests
