How to increase the attractiveness of smart mobility alternatives?

What is the connection between an autonomous vehicle, a parking management  tool, or public transportation?

They all constitute some of the alternatives that aim to reduce congestion and foster greener and cheaper transportation options in modern cities. 

Urban mobility is described as the lifeblood of modern cities, a critical economic factor, and a facilitator of smart, sustainable development. Planning a smart city that delivers effective and equitable urban mobility solutions is one of the most pressing problems for cities throughout the world. And yet, it is still challenging for companies and communities to sensitize the public to the use of the smart existing alternatives, which brings us to the following question: How can we promote the attractiveness of smart mobility alternatives? We will answer this question by focusing on companies as they represent the leading actors of this change.

• What are the existing smart mobility alternatives? 
• Why the public neglects the effectiveness of smart mobility alternatives? 
• How to increase the attractiveness of smart mobility alternatives in a company? 

What are the existing smart mobility alternatives?

The internet of things (IoT) and services, combined with the concept of Mobility as a service (Maas) allowed for the provision of a wide range of tools and solutions to improve mobility in cities. Not only did it create new modes of travel but it also improved traffic congestion in the cities that have succeeded in applying it. Those alternatives give a wide range of transportation possibilities, from the softest means of transport (bikes, scooters, etc) to the most sophisticated ones (automated vehicles, car-sharing services, etc). But it doesn’t stop here. There are also new services and tools that allow the improvement of mobility such as: 

• Softwares that help improve parking experience and at the same time improve mobility; 
• Platforms that integrate various forms of transport services into a single mobility service accessible on demand (Maas); 
• The increase of connectivity and accessibility to the new connected ways of travel (Uber)
• The ease of use of those tools 
• Tools for personalized travel assistance 
• Transportation on demand
• Pay-as-you-go subscription services 

Why the public neglects the effectiveness of smart mobility alternatives?

Some of the principal hurdles to that are not so much about the lack of convenient alternatives to using cars, but above all about the lack of information about the availability of those alternatives and about their usefulness and value (as mobility choices are largely driven by habit and inertia), the lack of motivation (as few citizens still consider factors like carbon footprint as an important criterion), and the lack of dynamism and flexibility in mobility management.

How to increase the attractiveness of smart mobility alternatives in a company? 

Inside companies, fleet managers, HR managers, and mobility managers have the possibility to better manage their employees’ mobility experience: 

• Create a smart mobility-driven internal newsletter (helps increase awareness of the existing tools for better mobility inside the company and promote the effectiveness of those alternatives).
• Reward employees that practice ride-sharing (encourages employees to travel smarter and greener).
• Promote flexible working hours (helps reduce congestion on the roads and prevent premature accidents as well as improving the well-being of the employees). 
• Promote a corporate social responsibility-driven culture in the company. 
• Create a clearly defined mobility budget and a mobility plan. 
• Implement a parking management software solution (the adoption of advanced software solutions make both the parking manager and the employees’ lives easier. A powerful parking management tool ensures full usage of the parking lot and reduces the frustration employees feel due to looking for a space to park their vehicles. )

Want to know more about the benefits of smart mobility?

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