Which action levers can accelerate the development of shared mobility solutions?

Three action levers can be used to scale down the environmental cost of everyday car journeys. The first lever is a modal shift. In other words, individual drivers would swap their vehicle for another transport solution. It has to be said that most of the population have no other choice than to use their car to travel what is sometimes a lot of miles for their everyday journeys. The second lever is ramping up the switchover to green vehicles. This change can be achieved and is currently happening, but it will take time. Today, there have never been so many electric vehicles on the road. The third lever involves consolidating road trips. This means reducing the amount of single occupancy journeys and embracing shared mobility solutions instead. But their uptake depends on the ability to promote shared mobility as a simple, safe, reliable, fast and cost-effective alternative.

Carpooling, self-driving shuttles, and self-service scooters and bicycles... to what extent are new mobility solutions being developed to complement or compete with the use of individual vehicles?

Tackling single occupancy journeys by understandingthe reasons

Since action cannot be taken without a clear understanding of the actual issue, the VINCI Autoroutes survey on single occupancy journeys has been measuring the occupancy rate of vehicles on the motorway around 10 major French cities since 2021. The one takeaway that still holds true after five editions of the survey is that solo car journeys are very much in the majority, especially for everyday trips. France’s Mobility Orientation Law (LOM) of 2019, which came to the same finding, has paved the way to an investment programme aimed at designing, trialling and rolling out dedicated solutions that promote a cleaner form of mobility with the emphasis on sharing instead of possession.

Low occupancy rate for individual vehicules at rush hour

The results of the last survey reveal that more than eight out of ten drivers travel alone on their everyday journeys and that the average number of passengers is 1.24 per vehicle, bearing in mind that the country’s national low-carbon strategy has set a target of 1.75 (by 2030). However, the percentage of single occupancy journeys is lower outside rush hour, where it falls to an average of 77% by 10 am.

The divide between the interest in car sharing and everyday reality

Carpooling schemes have garnered a certain amount of interest. Nearly half (47%^[1]) of frequent road users claim to be strongly attracted to such initiatives. So how can they be persuaded to put words into action? Respondents mentioned a number of factors that would encourage them to take the plunge, such as rolling out services for connecting users and setting up an incentivising remuneration policy, which is one of the aspects promoted by the national daily carpooling plan. Finally, they believe that specific carpooling facilities need to be made available. The bottom line is that users need to perceive a tangible benefit before they are willing to put their car-sharing desires into practice, whether the prospect of saving time and money, or seeing the simplicity of the system.

Carpooling on the right track

Carpooling car parks…

When it comes to accelerating car-sharing practices, simplicity is the keyword. Road infrastructures must be changed to offer users suitable facilities and services for their everyday needs, such as secure free car parks located along their daily routes. There should not be any detours, wasted time or extra costs. Car sharers should see a monetary advantage once they have split the bill between themselves. More and more facilities are springing up along the country’s roads. For example, VINCI Autoroutes offers 59 free carpooling car parks across its network.

… Interfaced with public transport networks

These areas can be combined with park-and-ride areas or multimodal hubs to provide users with greater connections to other modes of transport. A prime example is the multimodal facility in Longvilliers along the A10 motorway, which features a carpooling car park, access to express coach services and self-driving shuttles to various stations in and around Paris, electric vehicle recharging terminals and cycle parking spaces. The objective is a simple one, i.e. make everyday life easier for users and allow them to safely and seamlessly switch from an individual vehicle to public.  

What if carpooling schemes were given priority?

Finally, to ensure that car-sharing saves time for users, the public authorities are trialling reserved lanes for high occupancy cars, public transport vehicles and taxis on strategic roads around major cities, with 52 km of carpooling lanes and 70 km of dedicated public transport lanes by the end of 2023. These lanes can be recognised by their diamond-shaped traffic sign.  

Intermodality supporting the MaaS system

An intermodal infrastructure combined with a service application forms part of the foundations of the Mobility as a Service (MaaS) concept. MaaS is aimed at encouraging the development of an accessible and sustainable platform offering multiple types of mobility services by centralising all the mobility solutions from private and public transportation providers across a given region on the same digital platform, where users can also purchase tickets. 

Berlin has set the gold standard when it comes to MaaS platforms. A few years ago, Berlin-based operator BVG rolled out the Jelbi app to provide users with access to public transport services (underground, tram and bus), as well as 11 external mobility solutions, namely shared cars, electric scooters and cycles. These solutions have been made even more accessible by physically bringing them together at strategically located Jelbi points or stations, which act as real intermodal mobility hubs. Ever since the solution was launched, the number of new users has continued to grow, with 500,000 downloads and 220,000 registrations early 2023, which has helped steer more people away from using their cars in the German capital.

These various examples offer a mere glimpse of the initiatives that are being spearheaded to promote a sustainable and accessible shared mobility model. Several modes of transport featuring varying degrees of innovation are being implemented with contrasting levels of success. Such is the case of self-driving shuttles, which are starting to gain traction in specific geographical zones, such as rural areas where alternatives to individual cars are thin on the ground.

Shared mobility needs to be given greater momentum, since it has a key role to play in strategies to decarbonise road transport.

^[1] VINCI Autoroutes satisfaction survey, June 2023, among 22,000 users transport without wasting any time.