A Carbon Friendly Makeover to the Skeleton of Our Cities

The successful implementation of shared mobility options today will be a key component for the seamless smart cities of tomorrow.

At WSP, we are providing in-depth insight into how cities can stay ahead of these changing trends.

In November, we released a whitepaper addressing the rapid rise of micromobility around the world.

Micromobility refers to small single-person modes of transport such as mopeds, bicycles and scooters.

In this paper titled, ‘Going Small: The transition to urban micromobility’ researchers from our Australian, New Zealand, Canadian, USA and Swedish businesses examined models and interrelationships between micromobility operators, users and cities where they are located.

Micromobility is not a new concept – but it hasn’t taken off in Australia like it has in New Zealand.

According to Claire Rusin, Senior Transportation Planner, this may be because New Zealand cities have a friendlier regulatory environment for micromobility.

Based in Auckland, Claire says, “Many of our local governments are future-focussed and pro-actively partner with micromobility providers to safely accommodate micromobility services.”

Todd Nguyen, Transport and Environment Planner, worked on the paper with Claire and a handful of other professionals in the ANZ region including Ravi Kaberwal, Chen Wittle and Shifani Sood.

Todd acknowledged there are multiple factors that may attribute to Australia’s hesitance to fully embracing micromobility.

He says, “There are layers to this conversation. I think places like Sydney suffer on the micromobility front because the skeleton of our city has essentially been made for cars.

“It already lacks in its bike infrastructure so I can't even imagine exacerbating the system by adding all these cool scooters on top of that.”

From ride hailing, carpooling, short-term car lease and small single-person flexible modes of transport like scooters – the future of mobility is micro.

"The whitepaper was a great way to showcase our abilities on something young people think are relevant for the transport industry.

“We hope we can use this whitepaper to help cities initiate the smooth inception and operation of micromobility options,” adds Todd. “Not only would it reduce the congestion of cars in and around our inner cities, it would be great for the environment as well.”

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