Mobility for humanity must be diverse, inclusive and safe

Mobility – the freedom of movement is a kind of basic need for all of us.

The ability to get from A to B allows us to link different areas of life, and to shape our lives individually. Access to mobility always means access to society – to education, to jobs, to leisure. Mobility literally brings us forwards. It opens new opportunities and perspectives.

Conversely, this also means that many doors remain closed to those who cannot afford mobility or don’t have access to transportation. Among the population groups vulnerable to exclusion are the elderly, children, youth, disabled, people in poverty, migrants and others.

In the US, for example, 16% of adults and nearly 100 million people overall, do not drive because they cannot afford it, are legally ineligible, or are limited by age or disability. And ?45% of Americans have no access to public transit.

Thus, improving mobility always has a social aspect and goes hand in hand with sustainability. For decades, traffic planning primarily concentrated on car traffic. This car-centric approach is now slowly changing. Urban and mobility planners focus more and more on people and their mobility needs, in order to shape livable and sustainable environments. That’s an important change in thinking. Humanity is diverse, and so are our mobility needs and movement patterns.

A good example is the different travel patterns of men and women. Statistics show that women drive less but walk and use public transport more often. While the mobility of men is usually still very linear, e.g., the way to work in the morning and back home in the evening, women make several shorter trips. This is because women still take the greater share of care work: Taking children to and from school, going to work, doing the groceries, etc. However, the route networks in many cities are mostly built for easy car communing.

Another example: In rural areas in Germany public transport makes only 5-7% of the overall traffic volume. Due to a poorly developed public transport network and a lack of safe bike lanes, people living in these rural areas do not have the freedom to choose their means of transport. They are mostly dependent on their cars or must make long and impractical journeys to reach the nearest shopping center or hospital.

An inclusive mobility must offer diverse options and must be available, affordable, barrier-free and safe for everyone. Digital tools and innovative technologies are indispensable to obtain a more comprehensive view. They empower planners to identify and understand the mobility needs of people, across all modes, allowing them to shape a more inclusive and sustainable mobility ecosystem.

Innovative technologies and smart software solutions help planners to identify and understand mobility behaviors, people’s needs, across all modes, to create a more inclusive and sustainable mobility ecosystem.

That’s what drives us at Umovity ! Because humanity is made of many - so is mobility. #MobilityForHumanity