A key priority for ERTICO’s focus in the Urban Mobility area is to support the widespread deployment of a new generation of cooperative, connected and personalised mobility services. ERTICO’s goal for 2030 is to achieve full integration of all these mobility solutions. With funding support from the European Union, the World Bank is helping Turkish Municipalities develop and implement Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans to promote efficient and safe transport in several cities and towns. Access to efficient and safe transportation is essential to quality life and makes city roads more sustainable.
ERTICO shares this ambition and strives to create a widespread deployment of a new generation of cooperative applications, digital infrastructure and personalised mobility services. These will reduce traffic congestion and increase low-carbon and low-emission, leading to high-quality travel for all citizens and businesses.
Mobility Solutions for Governments
Vehicle technologies, traffic and transport systems, and internet applications are coming together in a fast-growing ecosystem of new ‘connected mobility’ services for travellers and transport users in cities and urban areas. City governments seek mobility solutions to reduce traffic congestion significantly while increasing collective and low-carbon means of transport. Exploiting the newest internet and mobile communication technologies leads to innovative ways to re-think road transport services and improve Mobility.
Turkey is actively taking concrete actions to improve its transportation systems throughout the country. The World Bank and EU Delegation recently organised a virtual event in Turkey to discuss sustainable Mobility and urban strategy developments. During the event, Dr Johanna Tzanidaki, Director of Innovation & Deployment at ERTICO, had the opportunity to present some of the results of the City Moonshot project.
About City Moonshot Project
ERTICO’s City Moonshot aims to engage, inspire and empower cities by discussing their smart mobility challenges, needs and trends. By interviewing 300 cities worldwide, ERTICO City Moonshot is working to create a unique knowledge database, where interviewed cities will be able to directly express their needs and interests in how they wish to shape and improve their mobility systems. It will also enable the ITS industry to adapt their offerings to cities further and lead to faster uptake of intelligent mobility solutions. With a share of the global population living in cities and megacities growing by the day, ERTICO City Moonshot’s results will have a long-lasting and tangible impact and make our cities smarter by improving the way we live to move. To exploit thoroughly the opportunities offered by digitalisation, ERTICO City Moonshot focuses on data sharing; Mobility as a Service, and policy priorities on sustainability and the role of transport.
The Importance of MaaS for Turkey
The concept of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) creates new ways to use and pay for mobility, shifting the decision power to the individual user through tailored solutions. This means that new organisational and business models need to be developed to integrate mobility modes, provide information, and secure payment options. The preliminary findings of the City Moonshot projects found that 49 cities already have MaaS or are currently implementing MaaS and 2/3 of city representatives believe that MaaS will have a significant impact on transport.
The event has mainly focused on the elements that the Turkish cities should be including in their SUMPs and ERTICO, having drafted the SUMP Guidelines on ITS and MaaS, has contributed to the discussion among national, European and Global stakeholders by sharing best experiences and knowledge from the innovation projects run by the ERTICO Partnership.
“It is very important to recognise that each city (in Turkey) is unique, with its own needs and targets and the ERTICO partnership is perfectly placed to assist with tailor-made solutions and practices in deploying smart mobility in Turkey,” said Dr. Johanna Tzanidaki, Director of Innovation & Deployment at ERTICO-ITS Europe. She continues “We have built a very strong relationship with the Turkish cities via our ERTICO Academy training last year, and we will continue to support the work being planned by the cities to ensure a safe, efficient and modern mobility network that is accessible and answers the need of all users”.
Note: All data presented are based on the first 100 interviews – further data analysis is currently ongoing.
Access the recorded webinar here.
