Integrated mobility: the evolution of multimodal travel

I take my car and leave it at the station parking lot. There I take the train and arrive at the station where the fast train to the airport awaits me, where I will board the flight that will take me to my destination. Here I will find an electric car with a driver who will take me to the hotel, where I will take an electric bike to get to the office. This is an example of multimodal travel, in which several different means are used to reach a goal. According to a new report from the ride-hailing company Free Now (joint venture of Daimler Ag and BMW Group) out of 48 million of its users, the number of passengers using multimodal transport options grew by 27% in Europe between 2021 and 2022. The number of multimodal journeys including those made using orelectric mobility or car-sharing optionsmoreover, it more than doubled, registering a +221%. According to the study, 91% of Europeans consider sustainable transport options more important than before the energy crisis.

Intermodal travel in Europe

According to Free Now, 73% of intermodal journeys in Europe were made with e-scooters and 27% with e-bikes and in the UK the micromobility racing they grew by 200% in 2022. In 2022 the number of trips made in Europe with Free Now grew by 50%, with Dublin at the top of this list, followed by London and Warsaw.

The advantages

A shared vehicle is used on average up to six times more often than a private car. In a purely shared mobility city, less than 10% of the cars on the road would be needed to get around. This would lead to a reduction of congestionequal to one third reduction of CO2 emissions And less competition for parking spaces on the road. Mobility platforms therefore can make a great contribution to zero emission goals.

European cities are already taking the first steps to give public spaces back to pedestrians. Recently a Londonthe Strand Aldwych, in the historic heart of the city, has been pedestrianised, transforming one of the most congested and polluted streets into a welcoming and greener space the size of a football pitch. AND Barcelona will transform one million square meters of road surface into a car-free network of junctions and green squares. According to a study by the health institute BC Ecology Barcelona, private car use could drop dramatically from 1.19 million trips per week to 230,000. Reduced tailpipe emissions would mean less noise and fewer heat islands. This move could avoid around 300 premature deaths a year.