Addressing an important roadblock to sustainable mobility in the GCC

Have you hopped in the metro recently or rode an e-scooter for fun?

The Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) are building aspiring transportation sustainability targets in their national visions and actively working towards their materialisation. With most transportation networks in the region designed due to climate conditions and planners from another era on the US car-centric model, considerable CO2 emissions and traffic congestion are inhibiting meeting these targets.

Ambition plans for modernising and creating new public transport modes including buses, trams, metros and maybe skypods in the near future, are the forefront facilitator for removing en mass cars from the road while also improving efficient transportation for non-drivers. Makkah is completely revamping its public transportation system, Bahrain is building a new metro, the UAE are now really pushing the development of a rail line to connect all the Emirates and Qatar is rolling out electric buses just before FIFA 2022. This is one aspect of driving change; the systemic, central and organised initiatives of government bodies in pursuit of sustainability targets.

There is though another aspect, one to my opinion far more important and that I witnessed gaining increasingly more momentum in the past 5 years first-hand. This is the organic, people-driven desire for change, that may be fading out for a few months every summer, but only to return reinforced and with additional followers in September. The world is now very well aware of climate change and the 'hype' societies of the Gulf, used to often and openly discussing world affairs, are privileged with some of the most environmentally conscious citizens of the world. Those citizens are in turn both supportive of any government initiative promoting sustainability and also seeking ways to contribute independently. The rise of electric cars, active mobility means of transport and increased ridership in mass transit mods for recreational endpoint journeys are prevalent examples of this.

Being conscious of the environment, however, is additionally complemented by another driver for organic change. A much more crucial role in the equation is played by the ease of access to alternative platforms and their efficiency in serving desired start/end of journey points. Returning after the lockdown to Dubai I suddenly saw thousands of e-scooters used by daily commuters and many more bike riders than before outside the idyllic recreational lane to Al Qudra, using two wheels to go to work and/or meet friends. And this makes sense for multiple reasons. Such platforms provide a cheap transportation solution for lower-income citizens who often use them for even longer commutes to their place of occupation. They link public transport hubs with trip destinations as first and last mile transport solutions addressing a major pain point for the currently existing infrastructure. They offer a better solution to transiting between areas where a car would need to enter Sheikh Zayed road, take the next exit, make a u-turn, get stuck in traffic and end up in an unpleasant, frustrating experience.

Yet, the system fails to listen. The messages this organic transport is attempting to communicate to relevant authorities are not being heard. We see micromobility and active mobility platforms cannibalising each other, with different firms involved saturating certain areas with too many platforms while completely leaving others behind. We see bike lanes chomping up space from pedestrians. We see the use of e-scooters being hit with one regulatory hurdle after the other. We see construction not calculating the potential disruption of routes it might cause.

The system fails to listen because it is not yet ready to promote walkability, micromobility and active mobility at the expense of cars.

To fight the negative effects of car-centric design the transportation pyramid needs to be inverted. The use of cars needs to be disrupted both for better public transportation routes and for private green transportation platforms. Scooters, bicycles and anything else that may be popularised soon need to be available in every part of a city. Bicycle lanes should be stealing car space from road lanes and not pedestrian space from the pavement. Walkability needs to be promoted with more areas becoming pedestrianised and more road crossings being introduced. Regulations for micromobility platforms need to be minimised to only what is logical.

We can't be taking half measures any more and we need to embrace disruption caused by bicycles and e-scooters on highways and roads as a positive change driver and not a problem. Only, listening to this disruption and formalising it can help achieve green mobility someday.