Online Seminar: Acting on the Rapid Changes in Transportation

On the 9th of November 2017, city officials from New York City, Dallas, Los Angeles, Toronto, Amsterdam & Den Hague participated in our first online seminar to learn from- and reflected on Washington D.C.’s approach to the fast changes in the transportation sector. 

Key Lessons from Washington D.C.

The popularity of ride sharing in Washington D.C. has increased enormously. At the moment, 94% of the for-hire vehicles are offered by ride sharing companies. The City's Department For-Hire Vehicles (DFHV) believes mobility as a service is becoming a reality and they are taking an active role to ensure accessible and affordable transportation for everyone.

Their approach:

  • Leveraging big data to measure transportation patterns and customer expectations;
  • Creating a digital platform that leads the industry to adopt new technologies and to publish open data. “We believe that being transparent informs robust debates.”
  • Starting pilot projects with partners to facilitate the transition to transportation as a service and to test ideas in a controlled environment;
  • Promoting electric vehicles & the right infrastructure through their licensing scheme since transportation is one of the biggest contributors to climate change;
  • Preparing for autonomous vehicles (AVS) to have a better position and to regulate and incentivise the adoption of AVS.

DFHV is also proposing a policy framework to achieve an integrated transportation network. Their goal is to make sure that any resident or visitor is able to get a ride within three minutes by pushing a button on their phone. They see their role as a broker: connecting the various players in the field. 

The Recording

Watch and listen to the entire online seminar here:

What's Next?

Prepare for autonomous vehicles

Washington D.C. announced that they would like to collaborate with other partner cities of the Alliance to prepare for autonomous vehicles. For example, with pilot projects such as a shuttle connecting certain neighbourhoods to an air transit or a mass transit. They would like to hear how other cities are approaching these issues.

Interested in working together on this topic? Contact us right away!

Continue the conversation and address bike sharing 

Several cities indicated that they would like to continue the conversation about shared mobility and learn more about how to integrate bike sharing in the transportation system. Are you dealing with- and/or are you interested to explore this topic with other cities? Let us know.