With existing systems close to breakdown urban mobility is one of the toughest challenges that cities face. In its new study The Future of Urban Mobility: Towards networked, multimodal cities of 2050, innovation consultancy Arthur D. Little (ADL) showcases best practice from around the world, identifying strategic imperatives for meeting this challenge. Using 11 criteria, ADL has assessed the mobility maturity and performance of 66 cities worldwide using 0 to 100 index points. The average score was just under 65, showing the majority of cities today are only achieving two thirds of their potential. Hong Kong and Amsterdam are the only two cities to score over 80 points, with Atlanta and Tehran at the bottom of the spectrum with 46.2 and 47.7 points respectively. “Seventy per cent of the world’s population will live in a city by 2050 and the majority of urban mobility systems simply can’t cope. Our research and analysis shows that there are a wide range of available solutions and technologies to meet today’s mobility challenges but most urban mobility systems have proved hostile to innovation,” says Wilhelm Lerner, Partner for  Strategy and Organisation at Arthur D. Little. To meet the urban mobility challenge cities must implement one of three strategies dependent on their location and maturity:

• Network the System: High performing cities must provide a single point of access for the travel value chain to promote multimodal transportation
• Rethink the System: Cities in mature countries with a high proportion of motorized individual transport need to fundamentally redesign their mobility systems to become more public and sustainability orientated
• Establish Sustainable Core: Emerging countries cities must establish a sustainable mobility core that can satisfy short term demand at a reasonable cost without requiring major redesign later.

In addition, ADL has identified three long term sustainable business models for mobility suppliers:

• The Google of urban mobility: Built on a core asset of a user friendly customer interface, it provides a single point of access for multimodal mobility and supplementary services to end consumers on a large scale to drive uptake.
• The Apple of urban mobility: At the core of this business model are integrated mobility services and solutions to the end consumer or cities. Integrated mobility services for end consumers provide a seamless, multimodal journey experience such as public transport interlinked with car and bike-sharing. Suppliers that target cities provide integrated, multimodal mobility solutions on a turnkey basis.
• The Dell of urban mobility: This is a basic offering such as cars or bike sharing, without integration or networking. It can also include disruptive technological solutions such as transponders that make the Google and Apple models feasible.

The full report can be downloaded at

www.adlittle.com/future-of-urban-mobility.html   

Definition "Urban mobility index", .PDF, 32 KB
 

Ranking Table, .PDF, 23 KB 
 

Ranking by region, .PDF, 3.1 MB
 

Ranking global, .PDF, 3.0 MB