How a city can accommodate transport for its growing population without damaging the environment
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Hanna Vasilenka/ February 21, 2022
9 min. read
We live in a society that requires mobility so we can go places and live our lives. Most people drive a car, use a bus or train. However, what if no one would own a car anymore as a means of personal transport, but rather use it as a service along with other public transport? First, with the invention of railways, the exchange of goods became possible. Then, with more cities becoming connected, international trade became possible. With the invention of cars, traveling was a privilege more people could enjoy. Not only for essential needs but also for pleasure, like going on holidays to the seaside. Increased mobility and transportation, and the invention of cars not only changed the daily life of people but dramatically changed the look of many cities. New roads, gas stations, manufactures, and highways were invented to adapt to new realities and needs. Progress has always been beneficial for humanity, but unfortunately, we now can experience its side effects that no one could predict earlier. Climate change became a problem many years ago and not only because of trains and cars but planes and manufacturing facilities as well. Nonetheless, in this paper, I would like to talk about the possible solution to reduce emissions with the invention of electric self-driving cars that would serve as a service, rather than personal means of transport. Not only will it help reduce emissions, but also solve the problem of traffic jams, secure safety on the roads and leave space in the city.
Cars have changed our cities
Many people consider the car to be one of the greatest technologies in human history. The car altered many aspects of life, including changes in manufacturing, technology, and daily life. The vehicle provided people with greater personal freedom, as well as access to employment and services. It resulted in the construction of improved roads and transportation. To meet the need for automotive components and gasoline, new industries and working opportunities sprang up. Later, gas stations and grocery stores emerged (NCpedia, 2020).
Once the middle class in the United States expanded during the early decades of the twentieth century, more individuals were able to afford a car. This allowed for more freedom and leisure. People who lived in cities could go to the countryside, and people from the countryside could also travel to cities. With more traffic on the roads, construction of new roads was needed. Finally, as a results of further road constructions, suburbs began developing around major cities.
In a way, cars took over in the cities. “Many planners say they see an opportunity to prevent — and correct — the 20th-century mistakes of the auto’s reign: congestion, pollution, sprawl and roads designed to move vehicles rather than people” (Shaver, 2019).
Nowadays, there are several problems regarding increased car usage and its consequences for the city. The most obvious ones are the space that cars occupy in the city and increased CO2 emissions. For example, in countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States, the transportation industry today emits more greenhouse gases than any other sector, including energy generation and agriculture. Transport contributes to almost a quarter of global CO2 emissions. And much of the world's transportation networks are still centered around cars. Road vehicles, including automobiles, trucks, buses, and motorcycles, account for roughly three-quarters of all greenhouse gas emissions from transportation (Ritchie, 2021). As a result, your mode of transportation each day might have a significant impact on your carbon footprint (Timperley, 2020). That is why it might be crucial to think twice about alternatives for traveling.
New type of transportation
The world has become quite dependent on cars since the early 1900s. However, in most cases, cars are occupied by one person at a time for an insignificant portion of the day while driving to work. Then, the remaining 23 hours of the day, the car is parked in a parking lot with hundreds of other automobiles or sitting quietly in the garage (Kavrell, Jackson, 2019). This begs the questions whether these vehicles are even that necessary.
With globalization and the growing urban population, we should make the city fast, safe and efficient without damaging the environment even more. The need for transport for people and goods is increasing, but so in conjunction, air pollution, and climate change. We require more mobility, but in a smarter way. The solution does not only lie in switching to electric cars but also in using cars as a service. In this chapter, I will introduce the new developing concept of modern transportation – transport as a service (TaaS).
Transport as a Service combines four macro trends: self-driving cars, electric vehicles, connectivity, and the sharing economy. Uber, for example, is an example of TaaS. It entails a transition away from owning means of transport and toward mobility solutions that are used as a service. According to a recent Rocky Mountain Institute (2016) analysis, the age of private automobile ownership may come to an end within a decade as new networks of shared, electrified, and perhaps autonomous vehicles become more affordable. Instead of purchasing a car, you may just purchase a ride anytime you require one.
TaaS cars will be available 24 hours a day in several cities. While the average person only uses their automobile approximately 5% of the time, a TaaS vehicle is often utilized for 10 times the amount of time each day. TaaS will function similarly to public transit today, but it will integrate commercial transportation companies into a gateway, much like an app. People may then use the gateway to reserve and pay for rides whenever they need to (Broadwater, 2021).
Apart from the 5% of time (Barter, 2013), we use our cars, let's also talk about how much it costs to maintain the car. You have to pay for the car itself, fuel/charge it up, maintain it, insure it, plus pay for parking. According to Edmunds report (2019), the average price for a new car in the USA is $36,718. Leaving calculations and math behind for the sake of saving time and being efficient, the AAA report (2021) states that the average cost of driving a car is around $8,469 per year. By switching to TaaS, you could save hundreds or thousands of dollars per year.
Tesla now, as one of the autonomous car representatives, costs 25 cents to use per mile. The need to own, maintain and buy your own car is not very appealing anymore, especially because innovations and progress are inevitable. With the ever-growing population and increasing mobilization, there likely will not be enough space to store so many cars soon.
TaaS offers several advantages, ranging from economic to social, environmental, and geopolitical. In the USA, it is predicted that adopting TaaS will save households roughly $5,600 per year on transportation (RethinkX, 2017). Vehicle registration and maintenance, as well as gas and parking charges, are all reduced. Consumer savings from the adoption of TaaS could increase aggregate U.S. household disposable income by $1 trillion annually by 2030 (RethinkX, 2017). Moreover, “TaaS will dramatically lower transportation costs, increase mobility and access to jobs, education, and healthcare…and contribute to a cleaner, safer, and more walkable communities,” according to the RethinkX study. Another economic benefit is increased GDP due to productivity gains of $1 trillion.
The environmental benefits of using a car as a service would be the new TaaS-based road passenger transport system which will reduce CO2 emissions, lower air pollution, improve health, increase the efficiency of material use, significantly enhance mobility and significantly reduce social inequality due to lack of access to transportation (RethinkX, 2017). On top of that, “TaaS vehicles have an order-of-magnitude lower lifetime CO2 emissions as compared to IO ICEs” states the RethinkX study. In more simple terms one electric transport-as-a-service car pollutes ten times less than a normal fuel car over its lifetime, which is approximately ten years.
Consider the amount of real estate that cars and parking lots use. Getting rid of parking in many cities would allow you to fit three more cities. Cities might be redesigned to accommodate people rather than automobiles. This implies there will be additional parks, hiking, riding, and walking possibilities.
Apart from great prices, an economic boost and reduced emissions, TaaS will create new industries, wealth comparable to or larger than that generated by the personal computer, internet or mobile telephony booms.
First with the invention of the railway, and then the car, people, cities and countries became connected and globalized. However, the future of transportation involves moving into new, smarter sources of energy, modes of transport and physical and technological infrastructure to support these transportation innovations.
Having a car used to be considered a sign of success. It was a symbol of freedom as well as a mode of transportation to and from work. As cities have risen in size, so has public transit. Transportation in cities and regional centers is under growing strain as a result of rising customers' needs. Governments and large corporations are confronted with new problems, such as little road and parking lot capacities, climate change, and a growing population. Transportation as a service is a possible solution; TaaS is a new way of thinking, it emphasizes renting automobiles and related operations rather than focusing on car ownership. Instead of owning a car, you may use a ride sharing app to borrow a car when you need one.
As there are fewer automobiles on the road, the necessity for parking garages will diminish, and key transportation hubs may need to develop a structure that allows for equitable access to bicycles, buses, and shared-use cars. Transportation as a Service will save you money, protect the environment and improve your quality of life. “TaaS is not only the future of transportation, it’s one of the most dominant forces in the market right now. But over the next couple of years, it’s going to evolve rapidly” (Broadwater, 2021). Everyone is surprised by this exponential technology but in some sense, it is inevitable. Take the inventions of cellphons as an example. Few people could have foreseen their power and yet now, imagine living without them.
References
AAA. (2021). https://newsroom.aaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2021-YDC-Brochure-Live.pdf
Barter, P. (2013, February 22). "Cars are parked 95% of the time". Let's check! Reinthinking parking. https://www.reinventingparking.org/2013/02/cars-are-parked-95-of-time-lets-check.html
Broadwater, B. (2021, June 16). Transportation As A Service – The Future of Transportation. InvestmentU. https://investmentu.com/taas-transportation-as-a-service/
Carroll, C. (2010, March 4). The History and Future of Railroads. AARP. https://www.aarp.org/home-garden/livable-communities/info-03-2010/the_author_speaks_all_aboard.html
Edmunds. (2019). New Vehicle Prices Climb to Highest Level of the Year in April, According to Edmunds Analysis. https://www.edmunds.com/industry/press/new-vehicle-prices-climb-to-highest-level-of-the-year-in-april-according-to-edmunds-analysis.html
Kavrell, Jackson. (2019). The Future of the World is Going to be Driven by Autonomous Cars. University of Arizona. https://repository.arizona.edu/bitstream/handle/10150/632860/azu_etd_hr_2019_0116_sip1_m.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Matusitz, J. (2009). The impact of the railroad on American society: a communication perspective of technology. PASOS Revista De Turismo Y Patrimonio Cultural, 7(3), 451-460. https://doi.org/10.25145/j.pasos.2009.07.032 N.C. Government & Heritage Library. (2020). The Automobile: Social Game Changer. NCpedia. https://www.ncpedia.org/automobile-social-game-changer-k-8
Ritchie, H. (2021, September 24). Cars, planes, trains: where do CO2 emissions from transport come from? Our world in data. https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions-from-transport
RethinkX. (2017, May). Rethinking transportation 2020-2030. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/585c3439be65942f022bbf9b/t/59f279b3652deaab9520fba6/1509063126843/RethinkX+Report_102517.pdf
Rocky Mountain Institute. (2016). Peak car ownership. https://rmi.org/insight/peak-car-ownership-report
Shaver, K. (2019, July 20). City planners eye self-driving vehicles to correct mistakes of the 20th-century auto. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2019/07/20/city-planners-eye-self-driving-vehicles-correct-mistakes-th-century-auto/
