Understanding Shared Mobility

When it comes to creating transport strategies, it’s easy to follow the path of least resistance, but too often this results in waste. It’s time to realise that building ‘bigger and better’ is not necessarily the answer.

Challenging how we utilise the space required to grow forces us to look at new technologies that help facilitate a sustainable and connected future—one that will afford future generations with a built environment that embodies the foresight of its environmental and societal impacts into its design.

Technology is ever changing. With new innovations and developments come significant opportunities and improvements, along with an increase in population and new ways to encourage economic growth.‍

How do shared mobility solutions help with the built environment?

When you look at many suburban streets and you’ll find them half-filled with parked cars. Those streets were built before every family had at least one car each,  which means the streets weren’t designed to maintain an ever-expanding growth. The only way to lessen the impact is through shared trips.

It’s important to start looking at how we optimise the usable use space for the likes of parking, roads and public transport—as their impact will be significant in years to come. We’re simultaneously becoming time-poor, less willing to spend money and be more dependent on our phones.

Oxford Economics commissioned and published a seeking an estimate on how much the world needs to spend on infrastructure leading up to 2040, and in which countries and sectors this investment will be required. The study collated data and creates forecasts for seven sectors in 50 countries, over a period of 25 years.

The report estimated global infrastructure investment between 2016 and 2040 needs to be $US94 trillion. “This is 19% higher than would be delivered under current trends,” it said, “and is an average of $US3.7 trillion per year.”

To meet this investment need, the report said the world will need to increase infrastructure-dedicated spending to 3.5%, compared to the 3.0% expected under current trends.

KPMG’s global infrastructure magazine Insights pondered this question: could we be using mobility data to improve the way we plan and develop new transit assets? Their answer is the same as ours—yes, we can, by creating solutions, together.

How does co-creation work in a shared mobility context?

In the broadest sense, co-creation is the process where brands and consumers work together to create better ideas, products and services. In technology, it can bring companies or groups on the same platform to work on a project that can help people in their daily lives, and can help to alleviate their problems. It’s also very useful as it informs which step needs to be taken next.

"Improve legacy systems and make better decisions around infrastructural, environmental and social change."‍

How do we help organisations improve their shared mobility systems?

Liftango has been looking at how we could help improve legacy systems and make better decisions around infrastructural, environmental and social change. We also wanted to see how we could encourage people to still have a conversation without using a phone; we wanted to save people the time and the hassle of parking, and of course, keep car emissions low to help the environment.  

The corporate world is–in part– getting on the carbon emissions bandwagon. Global furniture giant IKEA has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions from its production by 80% in absolute terms by 2030 from their 2017 levels. That’s a start, but how else can we further improve the liveability and accessibility of our built environment?

Liftango has been named as one of 12 successful applicants to the inaugural RealTechX Growth Program; we’ll work alongside Taronga Ventures and RealTechX program partners to develop and deliver solutions to current and future problems with which the industry is facing. Programs like RealTechX are designed to be a catalyst for sustainable change. We’re thrilled to be a part of this program.

How to create synergies with data driven efforts.

Liftango’s platform creates synergies with corporate projects by saving them money on construction and challenging current approval processes. This enables developers to incorporate less reliance on parking infrastructure and resulting construction costs.  To build your ‘average’ parking garage (of around five storeys and 145,000 square feet in space), a developer will have to part with $US8.56 million to complete. This does not, however, include acquisition of the land or any demolition costs.

Our shared mobility platforms help reduce the overall number of cars and mitigate any resulting congestion or parking lot construction requirements both during and after the construction phase.

We can create synergies with construction projects by their being able to save money on construction (as more use of carpooling or On-Demand Bus or microtransit services means less need to find car parking space in construction), not to mention their being able to challenge current approval processes by showing a data-driven way of reducing overall reliance on single-occupancy vehicles.

Having reduced the need for, and the amount of parking construction, or removing it completing and integrating On-Demand Public Transport and carpooling to move people in and out of major economic hubs, an aligned corporation will see significant cost savings.

In the process of rethinking parking, we’ve embraced the concepts and processes in Infratech. This will see us working with developers, government and the greater infrastructure to rethink how we use space for development and in doing so, reshape the built environment.

The shift in behaviour and attitudes when it comes to shared transport and economies will have a global impact and will cross multiple industries. We’re excited and glad to be a part of the trend, as well as being a part of platforms like RealTechX, facilitating positive change to the built environment.