🚉 Has the time arrived for on-demand shared rides to be eulogized?
📍 As a true believer in the promising combination of technology and mobility – I really hope not. The question is more about where and how.
🏢 shared rides do not work so well as part of an urban mobility network, as public transport planner, Àmir Shalev, recently pointed out. Shalev drew his conclusion from the ridership data in Helsinki, and gave other examples such as New York City, Washington and various places where ridesharing services have stopped operating.
🏆 *BUT* other related good news regarding demand-responsive transport (DRT) has recently arrived: the on-demand-service ioki Hamburg (a Deutsche Bahn company) won the German Mobility Transition Award by the transport association Allianz pro Schiene.
🗝️ There are a few keys to its success that I believe we could learn from regarding the potential of DRT:
🚏 The service is an integral part of Hamburg’s public transportation system.
💺 The service focuses on the first and last mile, and it’s being offered in 7 areas on the outskirts of Hamburg and in neighboring districts.
💺🚏 In fact, 72% of journeys are used for the “first and last” mile and as a feeder to public transport. 💺🚏
🚘 1 out of 3 passengers leave their car behind.
🏡 Recently, Moovit, a mobility as a service solutions company, also made a similar move and has launched DigiGo, a demand-responsive service in rural and suburban Essex. The service is a feeder to public transport in the Essex (UK) area, such as bus and train stations, for onward travel.
🔮 And there is even better news: as of 2023, Mobileye‘s technology for autonomous vehicles will be integrated into ioki’s platform, offering autonomous on-demand rides and CleverShuttle will conduct the operation.
🚐 I believe we’re about to see more successful on-demand services, powered by innovative technologies- such as autonomous vehicles, mainly on the outskirts and suburbs of cities and metropolises, challenging private cars and supplying solutions to the first and last mile to main transportation systems.