Challenges for Urban Mobility 2018

In 2050, 68% of the population will live in urban areas and urban distance travelled each year will have trebled. The average time urban drivers spend languishing in traffic jams is set to double to 106 hours a year. What are the consequences we can draw today? .

As Europeans, we love our cities as they allow us to work, move and live in freedom. In this sense, we also want them to give us accessibility to what we need and desire. Efficient mobility solutions are a critical condition for meeting those needs.

As well as commuters’ lives, cities will also be transformed. With fewer cars and parking spaces needed, they can be redesigned to be more pedestrian-friendly and to have more green spaces. Quicker journeys will increase the catchment area for job-seekers prepared to travel to work.

But European cities are under great pressure to maintain their attractiveness and function. In view of the future trends, the existing mobility system must become more efficient and sustainable. Today's confluence of common, needs-based transport via car sharing and carpooling and the development of fully autonomous vehicles can be the way for optimal mobility solutions, supported by the ever-increasing possibility of data acquisition and processing.

Hence the appeal to urban planners to find the optimum and combine existing public transport systems with a growing variety of private mobility services. By linking supply and demand more closely, mass transport will become more efficient. Peak congestion will decrease as travellers are diverted from overcrowded to less congested routes; different prices depending on the time of day could also help here.

MaaS is a new concept that offers consumers access to a range of vehicle types and journey experiences. MaaS may be perceived by travellers as a ‘better choice’ and may change how we currently travel. But there is uncertainty as to how the MaaS marketplace will develop; MaaS offerings may take many forms and be marketed to different types of customer. Providing mobility using MaaS may result in consumers deciding they no longer need to own a car. It may also have other consequences, such as increasing the number of journeys or leading to mode-shift away from public transport.

This symposium will show what MaaS could look like and gives insights to the development in different countries. It also identities the stakeholders that are needed to deliver and the benefits that MaaS could provide to different stakeholders.

However, the change at high speed comes through the combination of technical possibilities with social concepts. The possibility of data processing leads to ever more secure and faster X2X-communication. The symposium will also give us a deeper insight into the emerging possibilities of the 5G technologies and, of course, room for discussion with top international experts.

9:30h. Welcome & Reception