Urban mobility is a top concern in cities, influencing carbon emissions and air pollution while impacting quality of life and economic opportunities. Addressing this challenge requires new policies and services as well as integrated and balanced development across transport modes.
Attractive cities for their low rates of car ownership and high-quality public-transportation networks include London, Paris and New York.
1. Cars
Car ownership offers many advantages for household travel and mobility; however, alternative modes like ride-sharing or public transit may reduce demand. Car ownership’s economic benefits are especially evident for low-income households that rely heavily on cars due to limited access to other modes (particularly those without transportation ) without a car (Boschmann 2011; Grengs 2010).
My interviews with thirty individuals who received subsidized cars through a nonprofit organization indicate that having access to a car enabled them to search more expansively for job opportunities and work more hours and gain promotions, underscoring its importance as part of mobility as urban form influences sustainable mobility outcomes; specifically trip distance is most influential feature of urban form in GBDT mode choice models followed by residential distance to center and city density.
2. Public transport
Public transit is an essential element of urban mobility, providing access to locations otherwise inaccessible and helping alleviate traffic congestion. Furthermore, its reduced impact is beneficial for people without cars who wish to avoid driving themselves and/or cannot afford one themselves. It provides an option for people without access to cars who cannot afford or do not wish to drive themselves.
Bus transportation is environmentally-friendly and efficient – bus accidents have only one-twentieth of the passenger fatality rate of automobiles. Furthermore, millennials prefer living in communities offering accessible transit options.
We are engaged in various projects promoting electromobility, making city traffic safer and digitally networked, and rethinking connectivity to meet local citizens’ needs. These initiatives will play a pivotal role in developing sustainable, competitive and accessible urban mobility services.
3. Shared mobility
Air taxis, robo-shuttles and shared e-bikes were once just pipe dreams of the future; now that they’ve become reality they are revolutionizing urban mobility and shaping transportation sectors alike.
As cities continue to urbanize, city leaders are striving to reduce private vehicle usage through traffic congestion charges, parking restrictions, and car-free zones. Furthermore, they work on optimizing roads and improving road safety by identifying accident hotspots.
However, some cities are currently implementing new mobility services such as ride-hailing and car sharing (such as dollar vans, jitneys, microtransit and paratransit) at different scales across cities; yet these changes are not widespread enough yet; hence there is a need to understand their effects on road traffic and public transport systems and ensure sustainable implementation that meet local as well as high-level environmental, economic and social objectives.
4. Bicycles
Bicycles are an economical and eco-friendly mode of transport that produces no pollutant emissions, making it an attractive mode of recreation and sport.
Even with all its advantages, cycling still represents only a minor transportation mode worldwide. Yet pro-bicycle policies and infrastructure development could lead to a substantial modal shift.
Bicycles are two-wheeled steerable machines powered by pedaling feet attached to cranks connected to a chainwheel. There are various types of bicycles, such as fixed gear models, unicycles and tricycles. Bikes can be used for transporting cargo or children; racks or carriers may be attached for carrying goods and kids (Mela & Girardi 2022). Biking also benefits riders’ health by increasing physical activity through physical activity promotion (Mela & Girardi 2022). Finally, cycling improves health through physical activity promotion (Mela & Girardi 2022).
5. Other means of transport
Automobiles dominate urban travel and pose major externalities to society, including air pollution, congestion and road accidents. While public transport provides high-efficiency shared services that may offer some limited coverage or capacity restrictions; private vehicles offer flexibility but tend to spend most of their time parked and carry less than two people at any one time.
Urban mobility is a complex issue that encompasses various modes of transport such as walking, cycling and public transit. Additionally, it includes personal journeys (walking, cycling and public transit), commercial deliveries such as e-commerce purchases or home deliveries from businesses as well as freight distribution to meet consumption and manufacturing demand. Recent digitalization has changed this picture drastically by creating last mile delivery services through digitalization; further impacting overall logistics market shifts including last mile deliveries.