In last week’s webinar, “Beyond the Curb: Enabling Mobility in Smart Cities,” we heard from ParkMobile CEO, Jon Ziglar, on the future of enabling mobility in smart cities outside of just managing the curb. Check out our top takeaways from the session below.
Click here to watch an on-demand replay of the webinar.
Top 5 Takeaways from “Beyond the Curb: Enabling Mobility in Smart Cities”
- Consumers are already adopting creative mobility solutions that address congestion problems. Solutions need to help consumers easily and efficiently optimize their mobility. With over 15 million users, ParkMobile is uniquely positioned to help facilitate this journey. We recently conducted a survey with our users to see what mobility services people are engaging with beyond the ParkMobile app, and we learned that 55% use public transit, 54% use ride-hailing, 40% use scooter-sharing or bike-sharing networks, and 31% use car-sharing. Our users are also using these services together – not in isolation. 70% use multiple mobility services in a given day, and 48% use multiple mobility services when navigating to a single destination. These solutions allow consumers to effectively design their commutes so that they can get to their destinations sooner.
- Cities should focus on maximizing the efficiency of the journey, not just enforcing the endpoint, through an all-encompassing mobility strategy. How do cities optimize for efficiency at every step of the journey, including when vehicles are at rest? Rather than being reactive and managing behaviors, cities need to be proactive and provide consumers with the right tools. To do this, cities need a mobility strategy that leverages technology to optimize the journey. At ParkMobile, we look at every step of the journey to identify new ways to power smart mobility for every driver and every vehicle. We help people find available on-street parking spots in real-time, we encourage parking reservations during peak traffic hours and prior to major events, and we navigate people directly to their reserved parking locations seamlessly.
- Urban congestion is a growing problem. Over two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050. While the number of vehicles per person is expected to decline due to the availability of alternative mobility services such as ride-hailing, car-sharing, and scooter-sharing networks, the total number of vehicles in the world is expected to increase. With more vehicles on the road, we have to address the growing cost of congestion. The total cost of urban congestion for many major U.S. cities is already in the billions, and this number will only increase as more people gravitate toward urban centers.
- The key to reducing congestion and improving livability is making mobility easier. We need to change the way we approach congestion. Up until now, cities have primarily focused their efforts on creating economic and regulatory structures to enforce consumer behavior. Additionally, cities have attempted to reduce congestion by managing the supply and demand of vehicles through financial incentives and disincentives, such as congestion tax, adjusted parking rates, and tolls and express lanes. However, these tactics are not a cure-all for congestion. Rather than managing the curb solely through regulation, cities should be focused on providing drivers with the tools they need to make their journeys more efficient.
- In the future, cities with the best mobility strategy will be the best places to live. With reduced congestion comes improved livability. As more people move to urban areas, they will consider which urban areas offer them the easiest, most efficient way to get around. When cities implement complete mobility strategies, they’re enabling their residents and visitors with more options, increased flexibility, and better decision-making. There’s still a lot that can be done to address today’s congestions problems, such as creating pick-up and drop-off waiting zones for ride-hailing vehicles, integrating transit tickets into the parking flow, and providing a way for consumers to easily find and pay for electric vehicle charging from their mobile device.
To learn more about the different technologies enabling mobility in smart cities now and into the future, you can watch the on-demand version of the webinar here. To catch ParkMobile in person, come see at the Smart Cities Expo in Atlanta from September 11-13 or the NPA Convention in Orlando from October 21-24. Our next webinar, “Creating a Better Fan Experience with Parking,” is September 24th at 2:00 pm EST. We’ll see you there!
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