Mobility transition

Challenges mobility transition

How can the number of journeys made by motor vehicles in a region be reduced? How can alternatives to the car contribute to better quality of life in the city without compromising accessibility? In many places, the current mobility system is jammed. Cities are growing in population, but the space for mobility often does not grow with them. In addition, key functions need to remain easily accessible for residents and visitors.

The combination of digitisation and automation has major consequences for the mobility system as we know it today: a mobility transition is taking place, such as the rapid rise of electric scooters and shared scooters, and new technologies such as autonomous driving. Government policy must guide the mobility transition in the right direction. Without government guidance, a sustainable society and ‘mobility for all’ could be at risk. We research the challenges, opportunities and risks of the mobility transition. These studies provide important insights into possible transition paths and their impact.

This makes it necessary for municipalities to transition away from cars to more sustainable transport options that take up less space. Companies see opportunities for new products to accelerate this transition, such as innovative transport products, assessment frameworks, and other services.

What is Mobility as a Service?

Mobility as a Service is the use of smart services to combine all forms of transport, in order to travel quickly and easily from A to B. This can involve public transport, shared cars, taxis, or shared bicycles. It’s based on accurate and up-to-date information on all available transport options, which you can easily book and pay for.

Thanks to an integrated system with an optimal user experience, every traveller quickly finds the best combination of transport methods. This will entice people to make more use of active mobility and public transport. Users will travel as easily, comfortably, and smartly as possible, and leave the car at home more often. Mobility as a Service is also abbreviated as MaaS.

The emphasis with Mobility as a Service is on convenience, flexibility, and freedom of choice. The range of options is currently still often fragmented and not always economical. That’s why many households still have a car parked outside. MaaS offers a reliable alternative to owning vehicles, by making it easier and therefore more attractive to use alternatives.

4 technological developments

Less congestion, greater efficiency, reduced emissions, and increased safety: we expect Mobility as a Service to have a major positive impact. MaaS currently brings together 4 technological developments:

1. Digitalisation enables the emergence of the platform economy: we’re connected wherever we are and have unlimited possibilities to choose, order, and pay online.
2. We increasingly prefer to use rather than own, and we find it easier to share property. You can see this in sharing services, for example for cars and bicycles.
3. Means of transport are becoming increasingly smart. For example, cars can perform more and more driving tasks automatically.
4. The energy transition is visible in mobility trends, for example in the breakthrough of electric vehicles.

Combining forces

It’s up to governments to implement an adaptive programme for dealing with the mobility transition. It’s important that governments, businesses and users look beyond their own interests and combine their innovative powers to keep the living environment liveable, accessible and safe. Companies must be challenged to think of smart ideas, to look beyond the Dutch borders and to collaborate. This will allow new business models to emerge that can prevent monopolies. In addition, logistics services can be developed into exportable products.

The innovation power of companies

Leveraging the innovation power of companies and the application of new technologies provides enormous opportunities for the mobility transition. This is why we encourage collaboration between mobility providers, ranging from rail, tram, metro to bus and the new generation of mobility/service providers. Opportunities exist in, for example, making public transport more flexible and more automated.

Ideally, a fair, efficient and future-proof mobility market will emerge. A market which will see new players, where a level playing field exists, and where companies develop socially responsible business models. But these markets don’t come into existence by themselves. They require preconditions which offer space for new business models and for new mobility services that contribute to accessibility, liveability, sustainability, safety and affordability.

Considering the users

Users are also an important party to consider in the mobility transition. Think about what services and solutions appeal to them, as well as the ethical, privacy and safety-related issues and challenges. Our advice is to steer towards ‘mobility for all’: accessible, affordable and fair. And to regulate user protection in terms of privacy, social equality, cost, safety, working conditions and sustainability.

This also requires an organisation within the ecosystem that properly represents users and their interests. The challenge is to create a situation in which governments, businesses and users work together to achieve an optimal balance between their interests and implementation of these innovations.

Why TNO?

TNO knows the mobility system inside and out. Our specialists help public authorities and companies to gain momentum in the mobility transition. As we help to assess the impact of new mobility concepts, we also work on innovations of our own. An example is our innovative agent-based traffic model, with which we can model urban dynamics on a large scale. Compared with current models, this technology is more realistic and allows predictions to be made that take human behaviour into account. Our goal is to create a liveable city where key functions are easily accessible for everyone.

Examples of issues that TNO can assist with as your innovation partner:

• Making the 15-minute city concept (proximity to functions/facilities) applicable in practice and supporting decision-making on necessary changes in mobility (more cycling and walking, less motor vehicle traffic)
• Achieving cost savings in mobility without negatively affecting accessibility
• Pragmatically achieving broad prosperity in, for example, new-build neighbourhoods, with an eye for liveability/accessibility for all residents