8 Lessons for Fixing the Cities of the Future
The world's transportation experts gathered in Germany last month—here's the best of their shared wisdom.
Mitchell Funk/Getty Images
In Ghana, women don’t ride bicycles. In China, chauffeured private cars are status symbols. In Morocco, many commuters don't have credit cards. What’s an Uber driver to do? These are the sort of challenges hundreds of global transportation planners and analysts, government bureaucrats, and entrepreneurs pondered last month in Leipzig, Germany, during the International Transport Forum. The three-day gathering offered vital lessons to anyone eager to capitalize on the rise of open data, ride-sharing, autonomous cars, and more.
International Transport ForumRegulate carefully.
One of the opening sessions focused on a report from the International Transport Forum, on how governments should regulate ride-sharing services. Key takeaways: Cities should design simple, uniform, and flexible rules to govern the likes of Uber and Lyft. They can use the data these services generate---on how they impact traffic and serve consumers---to ensure those rules support public policy goals. "When we are able to use data we’re able to transition to lighter regulatory loads," says ITF analyst Philippe Crist, compared with more complicated rules governing traditional taxi services.
TeslaSilicon Valley’s timeline isn't realistic.
Silicon Valley took heat for optimistic timelines on how new tech will transform mobility. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, for example, says fully autonomous vehicles [will be ready by 2018](http://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2016/06/02/elon-musk-we-are-less-than-two-years-from-complete-car-autonomy/#4591ec6785df). But it won't make much difference if it's not reasonably regulated or even allowed. "This is not going to happen in five years,” said Claire Martin, VP of corporate social responsibility at Renault. “You can’t get carried away with your own PR. Silicon Valley is not the rest of the world." Some places are getting ready---[Michigan](https://www.wired.com/2016/05/detroit-wants-go-spot-self-driving-tech-big-automakers/) and [the UK](https://www.wired.com/2015/02/uk-just-made-fantastic-place-test-self-driving-cars/), for example---but making this revolutionary tech work in the real world is gonna take a while.
UberGet ready for cultural challenges.
Anyone looking to bring innovative technologies to cities around the world must realize that there are great swaths of the world's population that lack credit cards, bank accounts, and in some cases smartphones. (Morocco and Nairobi are just two examples that came up in Leipzig.) Globally, two billion adults don't have bank accounts, [according to the World Bank](http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2015/04/15/massive-drop-in-number-of-unbanked-says-new-report). If ride-sharing and app-based taxi services are to have any impact among those populations, they’ll need to meet those consumers where they are, so to speak. Uber, for its part, is exploring the idea of allowing cash payments to accommodate such customers.
International Transport ForumSocial mores pose roadblocks.
Take cycling: It’s not just a vital tool for mobility and congestion solutions, it has [empowered women in rural India](http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Girls-may-ride-bicycles-but-not-women/articleshow/20950017.cms) and South Africa. But in many countries, like Ghana, bikes are considered transportation for the poor, and most women don’t know how to ride. That’s a problem if they move to cities where cycling is a big part of the transportation infrastructure. So Ghanaian Agartha Frimpong founded the Stichting Woman Motivating Integration project in Amsterdam (where she lives) to teach migrant women to get around on two wheels. “It’s healthy for the women and lets them know that they are part of the city,” she says.
Mitchell Funk/Getty ImagesData makes the world better.
In 2010, San Francisco made information on everything from crime stats to energy use to bus schedules available to anyone. "There was so much data out there that it was beyond the grasp of the city itself," says Timothy Papandreou, chief innovation officer in the Municipal Transportation Agency. The open data policy offers private players a bigger role (doing things like creating apps to tell you when your bus is coming), and encourages city officials to say "tell me more" rather than "no" when considering a new idea.
GoogleCities need more cash.
Zipcar founder Robin Chase says that although electric and autonomous cars will ease emissions, reduce congestion, and save lives, [governments at all levels will see decreased revenue](https://www.wired.com/2015/07/self-driving-cars-may-end-fines-fill-city-coffers/). “If we have a majority of cars being electric and autonomous, there will be no fuel taxes, no parking garages charging people, no revenues from speeding tickets and parking violations, and fewer tolls collected,” she says. That will make it harder to maintain infrastructure. Cities will need new ways to keep the coffers full: US Congressman Earl Blumenauer [suggests taxing drivers by the mile](https://www.wired.com/2016/05/lets-use-self-driving-cars-fix-americas-busted-infrastructure/) instead of by the gallon, with extra costs for those who travel at rush hour.
Marvin Dembinsky/AlamyIt’s not just about cities.
“We need to acknowledge the socio-economic contributions made by rural areas and the people living there,” said K.L. Thapar, founder of the Asian Institute of Transport Development. “Transport planning must empower rural communities.” Improving roads, enabling bicycle use, and tapping new mobility services for car-sharing and ride-sharing can be just as effective in the hinterlands as in the city. In fact, demand-based systems are particularly suited to rural areas, as they adapt continuously to local needs without requiring regular service.
DaimlerAnd it’s not just about people.
For all the talk about moving people, moving stuff drew almost as much less urgency. One of the most pressing issues is managing the transition to driverless trucks. Autonomous semis, [like those being developed by Daimler](https://www.wired.com/2015/05/worlds-first-self-driving-semi-truck-hits-road/) and drop-in kits that [convert current big-rigs](https://www.wired.com/2016/05/otto-retrofit-autonomous-self-driving-trucks/) would cut costs (no humans to pay) and improve efficiency (no stopping for rest). “It will be a massive game-changer,” says International Transport Forum Secretary-General José Viegas. The crashes, pollution, and congestion that come with shipping won't go away completely, but you can feel way less bad about all those Amazon deliveries.
Eric Adams is a veteran aerospace, automotive, and military journalist, as well as a professional photographer. He has driven a Bugatti above 200 mph, has been shot by the US Air Force “pain beam,” and has chased total solar eclipses on four continents. See more of his work here. ... Read More
