Shared mobility: Shaping the future of cities
Lucía Chávarri, Vice President of New Business at Cabify, addresses the need to re-think current mobility models as cities battle congestion, carbon emissions and inefficient travel, and explains how shared mobility can act as an enabler for such change.
Technological solutions are fuelling shared mobility
Also, in the context of the pandemic, technology based solutions fuelling shared mobility have proved able to add value with new alternatives. We entered the delivery segment with the launch of our courier service Cabify Envíos in April 2020, making our transport infrastructure available to cities and communities at a time of unprecedented logistical and mobility challenges. Almost a year and a half after the start of these operations, the balance is resoundingly positive and enjoys great success in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Spain. In addition, more recently, we announced that we are working on a number of pilot projects with major Latin American retailers for the activation of an innovative B2B2C retail delivery service. With this decision, we aim to promote efficient, multimodal mobility of objects, delivered on net-zero rides for the first time.
Multi-mobility and innovation are, in our view, the two central ingredients to minimise sustainable impact and respond to the new mobility demands that today’s users of passenger and goods transport services are increasingly expressing. They are looking for flexibility, the power to make informed choices through technology and truly efficient transport options. Our recent survey of thousands of citizens in Spain and Latin America for the report ‘Reimagining Cities’ shows that 43.1 per cent of Spaniards highlight “taking as little time as possible” or “getting to the destination on time” as the most important factors when it comes to getting around.
At Cabify, we have made important commitments and achieved various milestones in terms of environmental, social and economic sustainability. Specifically, in terms of environmental balance, we are committed to a 15 per cent annual emissions reduction and have been the first, and only, carbon-neutral mobility app in Latin America and Europe for three years now. In 2020, we announced the pioneering implementation of blockchain technology for the efficiency and traceability of funds that we allocate to offsetting projects in countries such as Chile and Peru. We also remain determined to advance the electrification of our vehicle fleet, whose average age (two years) is well below the average age of vehicle fleets in all the countries where we operate.
A city only flourishes and evolves when all of its inhabitants can fully participate in its opportunities, when access to mobility is inclusive and real. Based on this conviction, since 2019, we have made our app 100 per cent accessible to blind people, and we are moving towards total accessibility, making transport easily accessible to deaf people, the elderly, people with attention deficits, etc.
Technological innovation is key
Technological innovation is innate to the entrepreneurial projects of start-ups like ours, and in mobility the potential is immense. We have been able to implement improvements in our technological systems to reduce empty kilometres (when the driver travels without a passenger) and also to optimise journeys to the maximum, reducing arrival and waiting times. In addition, with services such as Super (delivery of food products in collaboration with Lola Market) or Bive (bicycle rental by subscription), we avoid the unnecessary use of private vehicles and promote more sustainable mobility.
Electric micro-mobility (motorbikes and scooters) – another of our major commitments – has also proven its impact, avoiding the emission of 90 tonnes of CO2 in 2020. In countries like Spain, where there are over 24 million registered cars – according to the Directorate-General of Traffic – this sort of shared mobility alternatives can be instrumental in achieving a more efficient use of public space and remarkably better air quality.
Shared mobility plays a key role in finding solutions to the challenges ahead. We must therefore guarantee the future of cities by protecting environmental balance and social cohesion through a transport model that is truly compatible with that future. This is how we can make our cities better places to live in, where people and the planet are the most important things.
www.intelligenttransport.com/...obility-future-cities-cabify/
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