Local authorities are under increasing pressure to reduce personal car journeys, minimise congestion on the road network, encourage greater use of active travel and deliver air quality improvements. Could Mobility Hubs be the key to tackling these multiple challenges?
Leveraging existing car park, park & ride and retail locations as well as designing new sites that offer a range of facilities, services and systems to deliver a frictionless experience for motorists can encourage a modal shift away from personal car journeys and onto public transport and active travel modes, but the customer experience has to be as seamless as possible.
At TRANSPORT Smart Class, Scotland 2022, Colin Urquhart’s presentation on behalf of Trapeze Group and Imperial Civil Enforcement Solutions (part of the Modaxo collective of technology businesses) explained how many of the systems and solutions required to support a Mobility Hub concept already exist and are in widespread use today. By leveraging existing and proven technology in a collaborative approach, Colin showed us how local authorities, transport operators and other key stakeholders can be supported to deploy Mobility Hubs across the country and demonstrated how effective this concept can be in underpinning that modal shift away from personal cars. Colin went on to host deeper dive roundtable discussions with all delegates in attendance.
Presentation highlights:
- Challenges – Impact of car usage to greenhouse gas emissions (CO2 and equivalent) = 38.2% of total in Scotland 2020 (source Transport Scotland); Target to reduce car usage = 20% reduction in car km by 2030 (Scottish Government’s climate change plan update in 2020); Active travel targets – 50% shorter journeys by 2030 (Zero Net Nation); How do we change behaviours to reduce ‘door to door’ car journeys and increase usage of public transport and active travel modes?
- Do Mobility Hubs offer part of the solution?
- What are Mobility Hubs? “Mobility hubs bring together shared transport with public transport and active travel in spaces designed to improve the public realm for all. The concept is widely applied in many European and North American cities and increasingly spreading in the UK.” – Collaborative Mobility UK (CoMoUK);
- What could/should a Mobility Hub offer? e.g. bus services, demand responsive transport (DRT), rail services, taxi, park & ride/parking spaces, EV charging infrastructure, car club, bike scooter hire, secure storage, ANPR cameras – vehicle recognition & security, covered waiting areas with toilet facilities, passenger information (journey planning, RTPi timetables etc), retail, working facilities, parcel collection lockers;
- Where do Mobility Hubs fit into the bigger picture?
- Leveraging existing technology to support Mobility Hubs – Including schedule & real-time passenger information, next gen journey planning, subsidised/franchised bus services, demand response and social transport, mobility as a service (MaaS), next gen journey planning, intelligent transport systems (ITS), account based permit platform, parking/EV bay detection & enforcement, emissions based tariffs, ANPR camera detection & LEZ enforcement solutions;
- Summary – “There are a wealth of challenges that need to be tackled to support modal shift in transport away from the personal car. Mobility Hubs have a crucial role to play in supporting this. By leveraging existing proven technology we can minimise risks and costs.”
- Modaxo activity in Scotland – e.g. Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeenshire Council, Argyll & Bute Council, CGI, Dundee City Council, East Ayrshire Council, East Dunbartonshire Council, The City of Edinburgh Council, Fife Council, Glasgow City Council, Inverclyde Council, Nestrans, North Lanarkshire Council, Perth & Kinross Council, Renfrewshire Council, Scottish Borders Council, SEStran, South Ayrshire Council, SPT, South Lanarkshire Council, Stirling Council, Transport Scotland, Traveline Scotland etc.
If you satisfy our regular delegate qualification criteria but were unable to join us in Glasgow on December 7th for the live in-person event at Citation, CLICK HERE and complete the short “Download form” (located at the bottom of the post) to receive a unique link enabling free access to the presentation video recordings and slides (including the film footage and slides from Colin’s initial presentation).
Those qualifying to receive the rich presentation content from this event include commissioning, procurement, trialling, partnering and policy leads, senior influencers, strategic decision makers and planners from local authorities (e.g. city, borough, metropolitan, district and county councils); public transport operators; regional transport partnerships, sub-regional transport bodies, combined authorities, integrated transport authorities and passenger transport executives; highways authorities and road operators; government and supporting national transport agencies; fleet operators, parking operators, prime contractors etc.
