Flexible Mobility On-Demand: An Environmental Scan

Abstract

On-demand shared mobility is increasingly being promoted as an influential strategy to address urban transport challenges in large and fast-growing cities. The appeal of this form of transport is largely attributed to its convenience, ease of use, and affordability made possible through digital platforms and innovations. The convergence of the shared economy with a number of established and emerging technologies—such as artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and Cloud and Fog computing—is helping to expedite their deployment as a new form of public transport. Recently, this has manifested itself in the form of Flexible Mobility on Demand (FMoD) solutions, aimed at meeting personal travel demands through flexible routing and scheduling. Increasingly, these shared mobility solutions are blurring the boundaries with existing forms of public transport, particularly bus operations. This paper presents an environmental scan and analysis of the technological, social, and economic impacts surrounding disruptive technology-driven shared mobility trends. Specifically, the paper includes an examination of current and anticipated external factors that are of direct relevance to collaborative and low carbon mobility. The paper also outlines how these trends are likely to influence the mobility industries now and into the future. The paper collates information from a wide body of literature and reports on findings from actual ‘use cases’ that exist today which have used these disruptive mobility solutions to deliver substantial benefits to travellers around the world. Finally, the paper provides stakeholders with insight into identifying and responding to the likely needs and impacts of FMoD and informs their policy and strategy positions on the implementation of smart mobility systems in their cities and jurisdictions.

An Inter- and Transdisciplinary Approach to Developing and Testing a New Sustainable Mobility System

“…The rapid dissemination of on-demand ride services marks a transformation of urban mobility [27]. The emergence of new mobility providers like Uber, Lyft and Via is driven by the prospect of new business segments based on travelers' demand for higher flexibility and enabled by the progress in digitalization and the provision of real-time information [28]. The concept of mobility-on-demand-systems meets the requirements of a society that strives for personalization and flexibility.…”

Platform Urbanism: Technocapitalist Production of Private and Public Spaces

“…The mobility debate is largely characterised by statements about the positive potential of technological innovations (Liyanage, Dia, Abduljabbar, & Bagloee, 2019). In recent years, the near-ubiquity of Internet in cities and the spread of mobile end-user devices has injected a new dynamism into urban mobility offers and services.…”

Technology-Led Disruptions and Innovations: The Trends Transforming Urban Mobility

“…For a given trip, consumers can select from different types of services based on trip distance, waiting and travel times and required levels of service. Another appealing characteristic of MaaS is integration of both public and private transport solutions (Liyanage et al 2019) to deliver a tailored package and single platform mobile payments (Kamargianni et al 2015). Another key advantage of MaaS is that it promotes connected transport services and can offer consumers near door-to-door services.…”