In May 2020, ERTICO launched a new initiative called “City Moonshot”. The activity aimed to enhance cooperation between city authorities and the Intelligent Transport System (ITS) community. The mission is to interview 300 Cities and regions worldwide to understand further the needs and requirements of their respective smart mobility challenges. Today, after nearly a year and a half, and along with a pandemic later, ERTICO has reached a significant milestone. More than 150 cities from all around the world have met with our experts and discussed their views on key topics such as data sharing, climate change and Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS), and policy priorities related to sustainability and transport.

ERTICO’s City Moonshot aims to create a knowledge database that can help cities plan, re-shape, and improve their mobility systems through cross-fertilisation and knowledge sharing. It also enables the ITS industry to adapt their offerings to cities much better and contributes to faster uptake of intelligent mobility solutions.

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Discover the complete list of the interviewed Cities so far.

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With 150 interviews completed and an interesting dataset compiled, the ERTICO City Moonshot mid-term report will officially unveil its first findings at the ITS World Congress in Hamburg in October. A first glance at the results points to some interesting trends so far.

Common challenges and shared goals

Thanks to the data collected by ERTICO, it is easy to understand why cities located in different countries and continents implemented similar measures: the underlying challenges are the same. Indeed, 92% of the cities indicated traffic congestion as their primary challenge, followed by pollution and noise, lack of budget/resources, and resistance to change. Unsurprisingly, similar challenges are reflected in shared goals. The top three being: improving the public transport system (84% of the cities): improving air quality (74%): and decarbonising mobility in the City (73%).

Green solutions

The largest share of cities interviewed agreed that the best ways to deliver on their carbon neutral targets revolve around collaboration with citizens, introducing green incentives and setting those targets as a priority in their agenda. What’s more, it was encouraging to see that 90% of the cities are already taking some transport-related actions to address the climate crisis.

Examples of their initiatives cover a broad range: adding specific bicycle lanes (90% of the cities), investing further in the public transport system (80%) and establishing charging infrastructure for e-vehicles (80%) are just some of the actions cities are already undertaking.

Role of data sharing

Another trend emerging during the interviews reflects cities’ awareness of the fundamental role cooperation and data sharing play in addressing climate emergencies. Approximately 85% of the interviewed cities would cooperate with private entities to jointly elaborate and build innovative solutions based on citizens’ data. Out of 150 cities, 129 are willing to share their data with transport providers in their City and other cities, while 122 cities share their data with private entities. Finally, almost all of them would be willing to share their data with ministries, governments and scientific institutions.

Further insights into Cities’ mobility trends will be featured in the upcoming ERTICO City Moonshot report.

With the share of the global population living in cities and megacities growing by the day, and the “re-discovered” importance of a sustainable urban environment, the City Moonshot initiative offers a unique opportunity to have a long-lasting and tangible impact. The City of Cape Town remarked:

‘We are very interested to see the results of the City Moonshot initiative as it will provide the City with a good benchmark in the application of new and emerging Mobility technology and global best practice. This, in turn, will help us to refine and adapt our approaches to our strategic mobility initiatives in line with current and emerging trends.‘

By connecting the dots, sharing knowledge and creating bridges between different cities and between cities and key private and academic stakeholders, the ERTICO City Moonshot will support hundreds of cities worldwide in the transition into a sustainable future.