200 years ago mobility was simple. You either had a horse or you walked. Today, as in other walks of life, the choice in our cities has vastly expanded. Is it public or private? Is it fast or slow? How much do I want to pay? What other services do I want to include? How do I connect between the different modes to make my journey work?
The challenge in urban transport is increasingly about choice and how citizens navigate those choices.
Mobility is at an interesting moment with new disruptive entrants coming to market, often via trials or test–beds. For many reasons, including the environment, major cities are trying to nudge citizens away from the traditional model of private car ownership and towards options such as public transport, ride-sharing, and micro-mobility.
If cities want citizens to transition to a more multi-modal alternative, people need to be able to easily make sense of the options. We are getting used to the new taxi & ride hailing operators, dockless e-bikes & e-scooter services.
However, cities and operators still seem in the midst of trying to piece these together in a way that helps citizens understand and connect their journey choices – a true Mobility-as-a-Service model of transport.
The appeal of the private car is one of ease – both perceived and actual. The ease of the car is its relative simplicity and low friction – you get in and go. When you compare this to a multi-modal journey it is just easier.
This poses a core challenge:
How might we make planning a multi-modal journey as frictionless as “I’ll just get in the car”?