Urban mobility is a complex issue that demands innovative and holistic solutions. Expanding car-centric infrastructure has only increased urban sprawl and congestion, creating an endless cycle of ever-increasing demand for transport infrastructure.
Sustainable urban mobility involves both social and environmental considerations. New citizen habits, technological disruption, and the desire to preserve the environment all play a part in developing eco-friendly mobility services.
Commutes
The daily commute is an integral component of city living and plays an important role in how urban residents spend their free time. Unfortunately, it can also cause traffic congestion, pollution and stress.
Trip generation can vary daily, with the main forms of trips being commutes to work and access to goods and services. Trip generation may also be determined by push/pull factors like employment opportunities, public transit availability and housing costs.
Utilizing data from the American Community Survey (ACS) and Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES), this section examines commuting patterns in Richmond, Baltimore and Charlotte using American Community Survey and Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES). Results reveal that these cities exhibit distinctive commuting behaviors which differ significantly from national norms; for instance, more commuters in Richmond than any other city use public transit than average among these cities.
Freight
Freight transport is an integral component of urban mobility, both from B2C e-commerce home deliveries and B2B retail store deliveries. Each aspect can have significant ramifications on road networks within cities as well as negative externalities associated with them.
Interviews with planners revealed their interest in a freight model that allows them to identify and quantify potential benefits from new infrastructure, traffic-reg projects (e.g. lane access/restriction restrictions and signal prioritization projects), or new solutions such as off-hour deliveries. Planners would also like to know what information is required from carriers as well as potential means for collecting it.
An approach was developed that allows characterization of urban freight distribution using data available. An algorithm estimates the impacts of various distribution strategies such as central cross-dock depot or direct home/locker delivery and Monte Carlo sampling was employed to account for randomness and uncertainty in input variables.
Public Transport
Public transport should be prioritized in cities with high rates of motorization in order to decrease dependence on private vehicles and meet climate goals. Aiming for this means designing an accessible, high-quality system with fast service delivery that meets these criteria – ideal in an urban context where motorization rates are high.
Trip generation impacts mobility patterns, with commuter trips accounting for the vast majority of urban movements. Temporal variations also play a part, with peak travel periods occurring both morning and evening rush hours.
Accessible public transit is integral to providing inclusive urban mobility for marginalized populations living outside of city centers, as it contributes to environmental sustainability while offering additional social benefits such as economic opportunity expansion and improved health results such as decreased stress and respiratory conditions. At The World Bank we support an array of urban transport projects designed with these factors in mind.
Multimodal Transport
Multimodal transportation systems give citizens a variety of travel options. Whether people choose to walk, bike or take transit – an intermodal system makes it simple and accessible for commuters to access locations such as grocery stores, barber shops and more.
Multimodal transport can significantly lower carbon dioxide emissions per passenger kilometre compared to unimodal modes, particularly if mass public transportation serves as the backbone and electric micro and mini mobility acts as feeder services.
Legally speaking, multimodal transport involves one contract and carrier responsible for its entirety, increasing accountability. Businesses using multimodal transportation can leverage syncup to ensure deadlines are met even when unexpected delays arise, upholding customer commitments while upholding competitive advantages in the market.
MaaS
MaaS is an integrated transport platform that unifies commercial services like bike- and carsharing, taxis and ridesourcing into one platform for easier journey planning and ticketing across modes. Depending on its degree of integration, it may also offer on-demand transport modes to address first and last mile connectivity or provide access to transport hubs.
MaaS was initially promoted as a multimodal solution that could reduce private car use and its negative environmental impacts, such as traffic congestion and emissions. However, evidence from limited commercial and trial MaaS offers indicates this goal may be difficult to attain in urban mobility landscapes dominated by private car services.
Lower-income MaaS users often turn to these services in lieu of personal cars, whereas higher-income users are typically less inclined to make such changes. Therefore, mode-specific pricing incentives that discourage overconsumption of single-occupancy car-based modes must be provided to promote MaaS journeys that contribute towards sustainability objectives.