Cities Need Imaginative Urban Mobility Solutions or Face Gridlock

Half ofthe world’s population now lives in urban areas, a share that is projected to increase significantly in the coming decades. Urban mobility,travelling in and around our cities, which is already under pressure at current population levels, risks collapsing under the weight of the newcomers.

Management consulting firm Arthur D. Little recently studied the future of urban mobility and in particular the challenges facing the Brussels Region.

Arthur D. Little partner Francois-Joseph Van Audenhove presented the findings of the study to the 'CityBoom: Booming cities – Blooming Cities' seminar organised by the Belgian Building Confederation (BVS-UPSI) at the REALTY real estate trade fair in Brussels.

'The future will be urban, but urban mobility systems are on their way to a breakdown as the majority of cities are badly equipped to cope with the challenges ahead,' Van Audenhovesaid at the seminar.

As city populations rise, so too does congestion, but at a faster rate. More people usually means more cars and additional, but slower, trips. The economic, ecological and social costs of this are significant and the attractiveness of cities for economic development is reduced, with consequent knock-on effects on real estate prices.

Arthur D. Littlelooked at how well equipped a sample range of major cities are to cope with the challenges ahead. The criteriathey examined included the shares of journeys made by car, public transport, walking and cycling, the number of shared cars and bicycles, the penetration rate of smart transport fare cards (an indication of innovative thinking) as well as the current average speed and mean travel time within urban areas. Hong Kong and Amsterdam were the best-equipped cities, Athens and Saint Petersburg the worst. Brussels ranked 30th (out of 66) in the world, but on a European scale came in at a disappointing 16th (out of 23).

'The root cause of poor performance is a lack of innovation,' explained Van Audenhove. 'There are sufficient technological and transport solutions available to address the pressing mobility challenges. However, for these solutions to work, key players need to work together in environments that are rarely rewarding for investors. This requires vision and leadership, as well as a reshaping of the political agenda to meet the changing demands of users.'

Among the solutions that Arthur D. Little identified were technologies that have been around for some time --electronic tolling, advanced parking systems and even the Segwaypersonal transportation system -- and those that are still in their development phase, such as automated cars, solar roadways and trains that straddle streets. Transport solutions that could be adopted to ensure a balanced mix of transport use include car and bike sharing schemes and smart cards that work across different types of transit systems.

Brussels’ disappointing score in the mobility study reflects the dominance of the car as a means of travel in the region and the city’s lower than average investment in public transport. Average travel speed in Brussels in just 19 kilometres per hour, compared with 34 km/h in Amsterdam A typical employee in Brussels travels on average for 36 minutes to get to his or her work, whereas someone in Gothenburg, Sweden needs only 22 minutes.

There are, however, signs that the car's grip is loosening.

'The number of trips on public transport in Brussels almost doubled between 2000 and 2011,' VanAudenhove said. 'Users are prepared to leave their cars behind if the conditions are right. Travellers want seamless door-to-door travel solutions, which means not only just good public transportation, but real-time information, access to car and bicycle sharing schemes and smart cards that can be used across all transport modes.'

The Brussels region has laid the foundations for improved mobility. Its ‘Mobib’ mobility card is one of the better examples of a multimodal card in Europe, although the system needs to be extended country-wide as soon as possibleand, unlike similar cards in Denmark and the Netherlands, it does not offer automated fare calculation. Sharing schemes such as ‘Villo!’ (bicycles) and ‘Cambio’ (cars) have been very successful and continue to expand.

'Brussels needs to decide on its priorities for the future', Van Audenhove concluded. 'Only by defining and executing a vision of its urban mobility system can the full economic potential of the region be optimised.'