Last week ERTICO proudly presented its newly launched City Moonshot during a webinar that gathered more than 110 participants. The City Moonshot survey and a series of interviews will consult 300 cities world-wide about their smart mobility challenges, needs and trends in an online webinar. The webinar was well received, with more than 100 city enthusiasts attending. Participation ranged from cities, regions, and ministries to private industry and the European Commission. Representatives from the City of Berlin and the City of Glasgow, who were strongly involved in shaping the interview questions, revealed during the webinar a glimpse of their cities’ smart mobility strategies and gave an outlook into the post-COVID-19 reality.
Over the last years, disruptions in the mobility sector have been given the necessary push to move innovation forward, especially in the field of Urban Mobility. With COVID-19 this has been taken to a new level. “Particularly in times like these we want to ensure we continue to offer services to our Partners including online trainings, support to the Start-Up community and funding opportunities for mobility projects. Improving Urban Mobility is a top priority for ERTICO. We are working towards creating a digital infrastructure that will power personalised mobility services to reduce traffic congestion and boost the use of low-carbon and low-emissions. This in turn will create a high-quality travel experience for all citizens and improve the overall quality of life”, says Jacob Bangsgaard, CEO of ERTICO who moderated the session.
The ERTICO City Moonshot is an initiative that directly answers the call from the ERTICO Partnership for open discussion and exchange possibilities between cities, and cities and industry. This activity involves Partners across all sectors, including them in the drafting of the questions to ensure all requirements and real-life needs are met. “300 is the ambitious number of cities targeted for this activity. Any city around the world interested in becoming part of this global initiative is welcome to tell us about their plans for transport and mobility and together we can make a real impact”, says Aleksandra Maj from ERTICO, who manages the ERTICO City Moonshot.
Two cities strongly involved in the set-up of the City Moonshot, and also with inspiring smart mobility strategies are the City of Glasgow and the City of Berlin.
Since having declared a climate and ecological emergency, Glasgow City Council is trying to meet the challenge head on and aims to reach carbon neutrality by 2030; so far the city is on track. Glasgow is Scotland’s first low emission zone and serves as a role model for other cities in the region. Marshall Poulton, Head of Transport Strategy at Glasgow City Councils presented the latest figures during the webinar, which shows that Glasgow has continued to exceed its 30% target of reducing emissions in the city. A strong political will and policy drivers are behind the strategy to tackle challenges such as traffic congestion, air quality issues and road collisions, especially in relation to vulnerable road users.
Berlin’s strategy reflects the idea of creating a more sustainable mobility system for its citizens. Martin Sölle, Project Manager at eMO Berlin, the Berlin Agency for Electromobility explains: In the last couple of years Berlin’s bike traffic has increased enormously; thanks to an ever improving infrastructure it is currently at almost 20 percent. Berlin is known for its public transport network which is widely accessible, even in more remote areas, away from the city centre. Electrification is increasing with the city working towards clear procurement targets. By 2021, 210 electric busses will be implemented on the roads.
Glasgow and Berlin will be two cities featured in the final report of the ERTICO City Moonshot. Learn more about their approaches when the report is launched during the ITS World European Congress in Hamburg next year!
Watch the full webinar below. For more information about the ERTICO City Moonshot, please contact Aleksandra Maj or sign up directly at www.ertico.com/citymoonshot/
