FUTUR #mobilité: hack the jams!
FUTUR #mobilité: hack the jams!
Carsharing, cycling, connected parking… quoi de neuf?
Demos by 15 start-ups on 22 September, in Issy les Moulineaux (Paris), confirmed there are plenty of clever ideas in the making, or already in action, to encourage new mobility thinking and behaviour.
Organised by Cap Digital and So Digital, with the support of partners Rolling Lab, IRT SystemX, Moove Lab, Autonomy, and Moveo, the FUTUR #mobilité : hackons les bouchons ! event presented a stack of innovative ‘bricks’ for (re)building urban mobility.
Talk about future mobility tends to gravitate towards driverless vehicles, taxi-drones, and hyper-speed trains. Yet many lower cost solutions already exist and, as they are being better combined, have the potential to really make a difference to traffic congestion and air pollution… and the mood of city folk!
Mobility has not escaped the big trend for ‘on-demand’. Today, we want transport options that meet our individual needs, that correspond to our obligations, desires, and convictions (environmental, equality…).
Bik’Box is a secure and intelligent garage that can hold up to ten bikes and recharge electric models.
“The starting point was how to bring cycling back into our everyday lives, given that people worry about their bikes being stolen and where to park them,” Alexandre Bedos, co-founder of Bik’Box, told Futura-Mobility.
“Our garage can store ten bikes in a space equivalent to one parking spot. Access is via ID and since the whole ‘box’ is connected, it captures data on usage that clients can then use to adapt the offer and demand – for example they can move the garage to a better location if necessary.”
He sees potential in the Bik’Box for work trips by employees between the different sites of a company, “cycling to avoid traffic jams or if the route by public transport is long or complicated.”
“We are currently working with a design firm to ensure the box blends in with city surroundings,” he added. “Importantly, the structure will be transparent for both aesthetic and security reasons.”
Green On proposes shared electric-assist bikes for companies and local authorities. Users access the service with a personal card; docking and charging takes place simultaneously. The stations can be equipped with solar panels.
Part of the Mobivia group that also includes Smoove, the driving force behind Smoovengo, the new consortium operating Vélib’ bike sharing in Paris, the Green On offer is targeting businesses and towns/small cities. In France, it has already delivered 42 bikes to Châteauroux, 8 to an eco-district in Toulon, and 45 are on order for SNCF (French Railways) Brittany, whereby TER (regional express train) ticket subscribers will benefit from reduced rates.
“Yes, there’s definitely growing trend among firms to offer staff some sort of cycling initiative. Plus they get a 25% tax rebate for doing so,” said Green On.
- In accordance with the French law of August 2015 on energy transition and green growth, all companies in the Hexagon with over 100 employees working on the same site must draw up a mobility plan by 1 January, 2018.
Hands free! Thanks to an invention by Haïku , city cyclists can navigate with GPS without having to handle their smartphones.
WayzUp helps businesses offer their employees carsharing as an attractive means of getting to and from work.
“More and more companies are looking to offer their staff this kind of service, usually for free,” WayzUp told Futura-Mobility. “They are also aware that it can encourage employees and new recruits to stay with them, rather than change jobs if, for example, their journey to/from work involves buying a car or long and tiring trips by public transport.”
To change travel behaviour, we have to remove barriers to adoption of alternatives.
People will leave their cars at home, or dispense with them altogether, or consider sharing them for multimodal trips if the latter don’t complicate their lives. The start-ups at FUTUR #mobilité – which also included Atsukè, Citodi, Colibou, Nextérité, Parking Map, Ridy, Roofstreet, and TwoOnPark – have clearly taken this ‘must’ on board.
