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Cities, SI Urban 1/2022, Tourism

Smart urban mobility- A BUZZWORD? OR IS IT REALLY COMING?

So-called smart mobility crops up in conversation time and again, but what does it mean and how can this approach revolutionise transport as we know it?

Tamara Mair

9. March 2022

Urbanisation is the main reason for the increasing provision in the area of smart mobility. Cities continue to expand and population density continues to increase, yet mobility is unable to keep up with this growth. Instead of catering for more traffic, a different approach is being taken and intelligent services are being provided.

These smart solutions help to push capacity limits and improve capacity use. The areas of media and trade jumped on the bandwagon of digitalisation early on, whereas the mobility sector is significantly slower here and is only now getting going. Intelligent, autonomous operations are a clear forward step here.

What is coming?

“If you want to be ready for the future, you need to develop new mobility services,” says Gerhard Sessing from Siemens Mobility Consulting, Munich.

“However, it is also important here not to lose sight of what customers want. Just before the pandemic, people were happy to use shared mobility; now, the some of the numbers are declining again, as questions about hygiene are not so easy to answer.”

Whichever transport system is being discussed, the most important factor for the operator is surely its profitability. If a system cannot be operated profitably, then it will disappear again more quickly than expected.

“One example of this can be seen at the moment in many cities with e-scooters. When they emerged, there were suddenly more and more different providers, but it is already noticeable even after a few years that many have closed their business again and only a few remain. They seem to have found a way to configure the offer such that both the customer and the provider benefit,” Sessing explains.

There are many predictions of the direction in which transport will develop in the future but it is difficult to make a specific assessment, although some of the bigger trends clearly stand out at the moment.

1. Improving the travel experience

Whereas the principal function of a transport system was previously only transport, there are now also increasing demands in respect of comfort.

However, this does not mean just a comfortable seat and a punctual connection. The first step towards greater travel comfort was already taken with the introduction of Wi-Fi systems, although these are currently not yet always reliable. Work to stabilise the network is already underway. This will make travel significantly easier, as it means the time can be used optimally.

2. Efficient use

As already mentioned initially, transport is becoming increasingly intelligent. Apps can look for the fastest connection to avoid the traffic as far aspossible.

Whether parking spaces or filling stations, various providers are displayed. Even local public transport is already showing good prototypes here. Crowd management tools also protect against overcrowded stations and help to steer passengers in the right direction (see SI Urban 2/2020 pages 34 – 35).

3. Autonomous operation

There are pilot projects in this area for many urban transport systems. For a long time, trains, underground railways and even bus systems have been assessed in various cities for effectiveness in urban operation. However, new urban transport systems, such as the cable car, are also already demonstrating their capabilities in the area of autonomous and smart operation.