Frost & Sullivan Debate: Personal or Public? - The Future of Urban Mobility in a Low Carbon World

LONDON, June 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The mobility share of the car as a means of transport has recently been declining. A 2011 survey conducted by Frost & Sullivan in 23 mega cities globally revealed that the share of public transport as well as push bikes has increased by around one to 2 per cent within one year. At the same time, car ownership per 1000 people in the cities of the developed world remains the same, and in some cases, is even falling.

This was one of the key themes of the discussion during Frost & Sullivan's debate 'Personal or Public? Urban Mobility in a Low Carbon World', taking place at the House of Lords in London this afternoon. The first day of the two-day congress was opened by Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, Mr. Norman Baker MP.

"The UK is well placed to lead the race in low carbon road technology," said Mr. Baker during his keynote speech. "Overall, we need to cut carbon and create growth, and that is why the UK government is committed to do with a GBP 560 million sustainable transport fund. If we want to achieve the government targets of 80 per cent reduction carbon emissions we need to pull all the levers."

Mr. Baker suggested that integration is the way forward: "The debate or answer is not personal versus private transport, but integrated."

To brace themselves for the inevitable threat presented by declining car ownership and rising car sharing schemes, car manufacturers are in the process of transforming themselves into service providers by offering integrated mobility solutions. Major car companies like BMW, Peugeot and Daimler are unveiling integrated mobility-on-demand solutions. Vehicle manufacturers today are measuring their mobility share and not their market share anymore.

Owning a car is a difficult endeavour for the young people of today. Car insurance, especially for young drivers (18 to 25 year olds) has soared, making it impossible for them to own a car. In the UK, drivers under the age of 21 have seen their average annual cost of cover rise to more than 2,000 pounds Sterling. The challenge for the governments is therefore, to pre-empt a landscape of declining opportunities for the car industry, by understanding and prioritising investment, and promoting sustainable and cost efficient transport solutions. Greater buy-in and understanding among users and customers is crucial, if policy is to nurture and encourage sustainable travel practices among urbanites of the future.                                                                                                                                           

"The industry needs the support of the policy holders and relief from some of the stringent policies forcing drivers and car companies off the road like the Euro 6 and 7 legislations on emissions which could harm the EU industry's global competitiveness in the diesel engine market," expressed Frost & Sullivan Partner and Global Practice Director, Sarwant Singh boldly. "At the same time UK policy holders should avoid any increases in fuel duty, vehicle excise duty or to the company car scheme so that users can confidently make future car plans."

"'Beam me up, Scotty' might not happen in our cities soon, but we will certainly experience seamless travel using multiple modes in this new urban mobility business world," Mr. Singh concluded. "Personal transport and especially the car needs to be an important element of the integrated transport mode, and needs policy makers' active support." 

The debate at the House of Lords was the first part of Frost & Sullivan's two day conference 'Urban Mobility 3.0: OEMs New Mobility Offerings and New Business Models Linking Web 2.0', which will be continued at the Honourable Artillery Company tomorrow, featuring presentations and discussions with experts from the automotive industry and the academic world.

For more background information on the event, visit: www.gil-global.com/urbanmobility or contact Katja Feick, Corporate Communications, at [email protected].

Official Sponsors of 'Urban Mobility 3.0' are Karsan, Siemens, BMWi, Daimler FleetBoard GmbH.

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SOURCE Frost & Sullivan