Local Governments Can’t Wait to Get Their Hands on Disruptive Urban Mobility Tech
A car in use for three ridesharing companies: Uber, Lyft and Sidecar Flickr.com
Traffic pollution and congestion have them considering tolls too.
Demand for smart urban mobility technologies is increasing among U.S. cities, with some local governments only beginning to integrate public transit, economic development and sustainability, according to a recent Navigant Research report.
Typically such cities expanded quickly to accommodate cars with highways and parking garages, leading to significant vehicle pollution and traffic congestion concerns.
Alleviating those issues requires clean, diverse mobility options like walking, biking and hybrid or electric cars, as well as efficient strategies like carsharing, bikesharing and rideshare apps.
Per the report:
The United States is one of the biggest [electric vehicle] markets in the world, and the country has seen a proliferation of companies offering public charging. Carsharing has expanded into many major U.S. cities and demand continues to grow, but possibly the biggest transformation is in rideshare apps like Uber. These services have quickly become big businesses and are poised for further growth.
The global smart urban mobility market is expected to grow from $5.1 billion presently to $25.1 billion in 2024 with U.S. cities early adopters of advanced and disruptive infrastructure and services like intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and smart parking. That growth will slow after 2019 in developed cities.
Plan on carsharing and ridesharing revenues rising dramatically, according to the report, and to a lesser extent ITS, electric vehicle charging and smart parking revenues.
The bad news is local governments are taking another look at tolls to curb car pollution and congestion.
“Congestion charging schemes are expected to begin to be implemented again after a wane in interest over the past 5 to 8 years,” Boulder, Colorado-based Navigant Research reports.
(Photo by TheTruthAbout / Flickr.com has been cropped)
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