Mobility news from around the world

Given the overwhelming amount of news around automated vehicles recently, it’s easy to forget that sustainable mobility comes in many different shapes and forms. So, let’s look at what has happened in the less headline-grabbing realm of mobility development.

In a deep-dive interview, Mohamed Meghazi, the general secretary of UITP (The International Association of Public Transport), shares his view of how a traditional transit system can positively co-exist with both micromobility and private cars. Another phenomenon at that intersection is microtransit, the significance of which is being reconsidered in this article.  

In his interview, Meghazi also mentions MaaS (Mobility-as-a-Service), long touted as the holy grail of sustainable city mobility. Unfortunately however, the world’s most advanced MaaS operator, MaaS Global with its Whim service, recently declared bankruptcy. This podcast, operated by two MaaS pioneers, offers more background to the challenges with deploying a comprehensive mobility service.

While awaiting positive incentives to encourage reduced car usage, regulatory measures are being taken to alleviate congestion caused by private vehicles in cities. Dublin is the latest addition to a growing cadre of European cities banning cars from certain routes, while New York is poised to introduce a congestion tax aimed at reducing the number of vehicles entering lower Manhattan. Either way you approach a car-free city there is typically initial resistance but, as this article points out, in the end the citizens will often turn around completely.

Africa is often overlooked in discussions of new mobility and given that the continent’s has much less access to public transit than Europe and the US, its outlook may seem bleak. There is however a very promising development of entrepreneur-driven shared mobility initiatives, and according to one analyst report Africa is looking to double its shared mobility business until 2030.

Finally, given that Los Angeles is often both blamed and shamed for being the world’s most car-centric city, the results of a recent referendum was quite a surprise. Nearly two thirds of Angelenos voted to repurpose parts of its street network into 380 km of bike lanes and almost 500 km of bus lane improvements. If that doesn’t convey an optimistic vibe, we’re not sure what would!