The digital transformation of mobility has been a double-edged sword for cities. It brings new challenges, but also endless opportunities to optimise mobility planning. Using business-to-government (B2G) mobility data has massive potential, but there is a lack of awareness in city administrations on how to harness it. Even with awareness in place, administrations often do not have the resources for implementation or are simply overwhelmed by the complexity of data systems and regulatory frameworks.
These barriers hinder the full optimisation of B2G data. As part of Eurocities’ ‘A better mobility starts in cities’ webinar series, actors from the private and public sectors came together to discuss how they are fostering the use of B2G mobility data.
Data sharing is caring
María José Aparicio Sanchiz, General Mobility Coordinator of Madrid explains what motivated her to leverage B2G data: “As city leaders, we are responsible for promoting change and implementing measures that make our cities more sustainable and livable for our citizens.
“To do so, we need the private sector to empower us to make the right decisions. Decisions that emerge from a holistic view of the problem are based on all the data available, both public and private. As city leaders, we must have the significant capacity to take action and tackle global challenges, which is now more important than ever.”
As city leaders, we are responsible for promoting change and implementing measures that make our cities more sustainable and livable for our citizens.
Bolt is one of the companies eager to work with cities to collaborate and reach common goals and they have plenty of data to share. In the last year, 300 million trips were done on Bolt vehicles. The majority of which happened in European cities. For each of them, Bolt has multiple data points.
Marc Naether, Head of Public Policy Benelux, at Bolt and Co-Chair of Micro-mobility for Europe highlights why: “As private operators, data is critical to our business model. In order to operate and manage the vehicles efficiently, we need to know where there is demand, where there is supply, where they are allowed to operate, how fast, and so on. It’s key to our entire operations.”
Since shared micromobility is a relatively new mode of transport, only having truly kicked off in 2017, Naether explains that the concept of open data has been ingrained into their processes in a way that isn’t always the case for more traditional mobility sectors.
However, he explains that mobility data sharing should go both ways. “I believe it can also work the other way around. We often discuss data exchanges from operators to cities, but cities can provide regulatory policies directly to mobility operators. This approach can be more efficient because cities often know exactly what they want and can deliver the data to us directly. We can then incorporate it into our systems without interpretation, avoiding misunderstandings.”
I believe it can also work the other way around. We often discuss data exchanges from operators to cities, but cities can provide regulatory policies directly to mobility operators.
Digitalising Madrid’s urban mobility infrastructure
Under the Madrid 360 environmental sustainability strategy, Madrid has digitalised its entire urban mobility infrastructure. In tandem, the administration has also deployed various tech solutions to collect traffic data for its own simulation model.
This model covers the entire city of Madrid and gives insights which help predict the impact of infrastructure changes of traffic flow on traffic flows like the elimination of traffic lanes, change of directions, pedestrian stations, or temporary closing of streets.
Perhaps the most innovative element in Madrid’s revamped mobility planning and infrastructure management is the new mobility data platform based on mobile phone data. This platform allows the city to estimate the number of daily trips and analyse this figure broken down by different neighbourhoods.
Despite the impressive progress made in leveraging mobility data, significant gaps remain that only the private sector can fill. The necessity for such data to optimise urban logistics and mitigate emissions is clear, pointing towards a crucial role for private sector collaboration in shaping sustainable urban mobility.
Navigating the regulatory landscape of data sharing
The regulatory landscape for data sharing is complicated to say the least. On the largest scale, the European Union’s Intelligent Transport Systems Directive has been in place to facilitate mobility data sharing since 2010. However, the implementation of this piece of legislation vary from country to country and this proves to be a challenge.
All this sharing is further complicated by the lack of harmonisation of data standards. Stijn Vernaillen, Mobility Data Expert for the City of Antwerp reiterates the importance of clear data use cases over mere standardisation. Defining how data will be used, stored, and accessed is crucial for building trust among stakeholders and ensuring compliance with evolving regulations.
“To make it easier for everyone, including the major players, to integrate the correct data, we need data standardisation. However, that’s just the beginning. We also need much clearer data use cases so everyone understands how the data will be used and for what purposes,” he explains.
This approach can help mitigate fears of data misuse and make it easier to adapt to changes in data standards. Damaris Gruber, Team Leader Managing Mobility Data of Austriatech and NAPCORE, is working to understand the current gaps for cities and regions.
“More awareness and stronger cooperation are needed in order to create a harmonious flow of data,” she says. “Each city will struggle with the same issues, so rather than reinventing the wheel each time, cities should learn from others who are already implementing best practices.”
With the European elections underway, cities are calling for stronger EU support and better frameworks for collaboration between local authorities and industry. Eurocities’ ‘A Better Mobility Starts in Cities’ policy paper emphasises the need to improve access to high-quality mobility data from private stakeholders for local authorities. It also underscores the importance of clarifying the role of cities as stakeholders in implementing relevant EU initiatives on mobility data, such as the ITS Directive, the Data Act, and the European Common Mobility Data Space. The upcoming policy cycle presents an opportunity to operationalize and implement these requirements under the new European mobility data space framework.
Sanchiz is optimistic about the future stating, “it’s encouraging to connect with so many other cities and private companies that share this vision with us, but cities will need a clear framework to collect and use private mobility measures for sustainable urban mobility.”
...Cities will need a clear framework to collect and use private mobility measures for sustainable urban mobility.
Find all of Eurocities’ mobility policy recommendations for the next European policy cycle here.
