The magazine 'De Ingenieur' wrote an extended article about the future of mobility. The TU Delft Smart Public Transport Lab was interviewed as part of the article. The article contains a good analysis, but the final outcome is remains undecided.
The main author of the article, Mr. Biesboer, notices that cities get busier and the increasing amount of (high-rise) buildings in the cities increases the demand for transport. This is a total contradiction compared to the air quality requirements, which requires cities to get cleaner air. Therefore is asks himself: 'what about the mobility of the future?'.
Among the institutions interviewed is the Smart Public Transport Lab of TU Delft, Bart van Arem is quoted as 'Hands on the steering wheel will go in the same direction as smoking, in the future that is something not normally done'.
Biesboer introduces two possibilities for future mobility. One is called 'private self-driving' which means that private cars will be self-driving. Eventually this will lead to an increased usage of the car. The alternative is called 'mobility as a service', this is transport from door to door and a combination of bicycles, shuttles, trams, metro and trains. Shared usage is the norm. Biesboer ends the article saying that the outcome is still unknown, that 'mobility as a service' is the most wanted outcome from a socially desirable viewpoint, but that eventually the will of humans to have complete free choices in mobility could lead to a different outcome.
This article is based on the TU Delta article "De Ingenieur: waarheen met mobiliteit?". Read the whole Delta article here [in Dutch] or buy the complete article from De Ingenieur [in Dutch]. Source picture: (De Ingenieur, 2018).