<p><span class="small">Figure 2<br> Source: Cognizant/ThoughtLab<br> Base: 200 local officials</span></p> <p>Third is road safety. Globally, <a href="
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/road-traffic-injuries" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">road traffic crashes account for</a> 1.3 million deaths and 20 million to 50 million injuries annually. In addition to the human tragedy, these losses also have a severe economic impact on victims’ families and on city and national economies; this impact can reach 3% of GDP.</p> <ul> <li><b>The unintended consequences of innovation<i>. </i></b>Improving urban mobility requires innovation. But innovative solutions are often accompanied by unexpected, and unwanted, outcomes.<br> <br> Take e-scooters, loved by many but reviled by pedestrians and drivers—and fairly or not, blamed for a number of accidents. In Paris, e-scooters became so controversial that <a href="
https://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2023/04/02/trottinettes-electriques-les-parisiens-ont-vote-contre-le-maintien-en-libre-service-dans-la-capitale\_6168001\_823448.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the city recently voted to ban them</a>.<br> <br> E-commerce is another example. A recent <a href="
https://clean-mobility.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/SRG\_Last\_Mile-FINAL.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">study</a> indicates that the annual last-mile emissions of 90 courier companies across Europe, India and North America accounted for 4.5 megatons of carbon dioxide—equal to the emissions needed to power 600,000 US homes for one year. The surge of delivery vans also adds to traffic congestion.<br> <br> </li> <li><b>EV uncertainties.</b> Global electric vehicle (EV) sales <a href="
https://www.exponentialview.co/p/evs-charts-of-the-week-111?utm\_source=%2Fsearch%2FEVs\&utm\_medium=reader2" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">have risen</a> from under a million in 2017 to more than 10 million in 2022. But while EVs will reduce emissions and pollution, an unresolved issue is <a href="
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56574779" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">how to recycle</a> EV batteries, particularly to reuse raw materials such as lithium and cobalt, whose mining has been associated with serious environmental and human rights <a href="
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/02/climate/electric-vehicles-environment.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">concerns</a>.<br> <br> Cities also need to address how to sustainably meet greater electricity demand, such as through renewable sources, and how to establish new revenue sources to offset lower <a href="
https://climate.mit.edu/posts/electrifying-transportation-issues-and-opportunities" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">fuel tax revenues</a>. <a href="
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/11/opinion/electric-vehicles-sales-growth-tesla.html?searchResultPosition=16" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Additional challenges</a> will be designing the right mix of gas pumps and charging units, and finding the skilled labor required to clean up obsolete fueling stations.</li> </ul> <h4>Three approaches to future-ready urban transportation</h4> <p>Clearly, there is no silver bullet to making urban mobility fit for the future. But our research has highlighted three approaches that can help local governments and their partners in the private sector create the solutions required.</p> <ul> <li><b>Make multi-modal transportation easy to use. </b>Multi-modal transportation systems connect a variety of transport modes to streamline urban travel. For instance, a commuter may cycle to a train or subway station, and then use a bus or e-scooter to cover the final distance to their office.<br> <br> Such systems can reduce traffic congestion by discouraging car use, while also promoting social and economic inclusion by providing easier access to employment, education and leisure opportunities for residents of less well-connected locations.<br> <br> Expanding access to transportation can dramatically improve social equity. Researchers <a href="
https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/hendren/files/mobility\_geo.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">have identified </a>an association between shorter commute times and upward social mobility in the US.<br> <br> Multi-modal transportation systems also offer enormous health and safety benefits. In addition to reducing emissions and air pollution, there is a <a href="
https://cms.uitp.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Report-BETTER-URBAN-MOBILITY-PLAYBOOK.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">strong relationship</a> between high levels of public transit ridership and low numbers of traffic fatalities.<br> <br> Cities globally are starting to embrace multi-modal systems; in <a href="
https://www.austintexas.gov/MobilityElections2020" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Austin, Texas in the US</a>, voters recently approved an initiative to develop connected subway, rapid bus lines and light rail lines. The city is also expanding its MetroBike sharing scheme, which currently comprises 75 bike-sharing stations around downtown Austin.<br> <br> However, only 57% of respondents said their cities will prioritize the development of multi-modal transportation systems in the next five years—indicating an excessively modest level of ambition (see Figure 3).</li> </ul> <h6><span style="font-weight: normal;">Transportation governance efforts</span></h6> <p><i>Q: Which of the following actions will your city prioritize over the next five years to improve mobility and transportation?</i></p>