Guillermo Campoamor, founder and CEO of Meep, highlights the need for cities and local authorities to maintain control of their mobility data and outlines steps to take back control to create mobility solutions that better serve the public and the city.
In the era of rapid technological advancement, cities are finding themselves at the intersection of innovation and urban development. The velocity at which cities evolve, whether in terms of infrastructure, environmental considerations, or the sheer pace of urban life, necessitates an essential commodity: data.
Data lies at the core of informed decision-making, and for cities to thrive, they must possess a clear vision of their mobility services and infrastructure. Controlling mobility is not merely a choice but a strategic imperative and one that has profound implications for the wellbeing and sustainability of urban environments.
Why it’s imperative to control mobility data
Mobility services are a critical offshoot of a broader need for data-driven decision-making in cities. Understanding the intricacies of commuter patterns, last-mile e-commerce delivery and other mobility-related data equips cities with the knowledge required to optimise their transportation networks, ensuring efficiency, accessibility, and sustainability.
Cities should adopt a holistic approach to data management, transcending the boundaries of individual operators in the sector. The emerging concept of digital twins and its adoption across cities exemplifies the need to break down siloed data, enabling cities to proactively address unforeseen challenges, both now and in the future.
However, there exists a fine line between responsible data management and commercial exploitation. While the private sector often seeks to harness data for commercial purposes, cities need not necessarily follow suit. Cities can utilise mobility data for the collective good of their citizens, without compromising their commitment to ethical considerations, like data privacy. Taking control of mobility data requires a judicious balance between public and private interests, where data is not primarily a commodity but a tool for urban progress.
The transition of data from private to public hands, though, is not without its complexities. The interplay between commercial interests and public benefit introduces challenges that demand careful consideration. Striking a harmonious balance requires delicate management that safeguards both data security and the public interest.
A roadmap for taking control of mobility data
The path to retaining control over mobility data is a strategic journey that cities and local authorities must undertake with precision and foresight. To navigate this course effectively, authorities can adopt a structured process that empowers them to harness the potential of mobility data for the benefit of their citizens:
- Define data needs
At the outset, cities must engage in comprehensive research to determine precisely what mobility data they require. This involves a meticulous examination of their mobility ecosystem, encompassing public transportation, delivery zones and logistics, IoT devices, and even ride-sharing services. The objective is to gain a holistic understanding of the data landscape to be able to chart a progressive path forward.
- Assess data availability
Once the desired data is identified, authorities must assess their current capabilities. They need to determine which data they already possess and what data they can access. This evaluation is a crucial starting point to gauge the city’s data readiness.
- Allocate resources
Cities must allocate dedicated resources to their data initiatives. Relegating data control solely to the IT team can be counterproductive. Instead, it necessitates a more holistic approach, potentially involving the establishment of specialised teams focused on data governance, acquisition, and analysis. Investment in these capabilities is fundamental to ensuring that data-driven decision-making becomes an integral part of the city’s operations.
- Set data collection processes
With the data needs clearly defined and the required resources in place, authorities can embark on establishing data collection processes. This may involve the deployment of Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) platforms or the development of digital twins, which can serve as centralised hubs for collecting and managing mobility data.
- Embrace a digital infrastructure
All cities should consider adopting a digital infrastructure that encompasses various aspects, but wherein the mobility sector assumes a significant role. It’s an integral part of the larger smart city equation, contributing to the establishment of a robust digital backbone that supports a wide range of city services.
- Collaborate with data sources
Cities rely on a diverse array of data sources for their mobility spectrum. These sources encompass public transportation, private vehicles, IoT devices, private mobility service providers (MSPs), transportation network companies (TNCs), and delivery couriers. Collaborative data-sharing agreements between public authorities and these entities become crucial, enabling authorities to access valuable data that assists in making informed decisions to enhance the efficiency and sustainability of mobility services.
- Continuous improvement
The process of regaining control over mobility data should not be seen as a one-time endeavour; cities must continually evaluate their data management strategies, adapt to new technological advancements, and iterate on their data governance frameworks. This approach ensures that cities remain responsive to the ever-changing urban landscape, delivering optimised mobility services and on-street infrastructure assets that respond to citizens’’ evolving needs.
Fostering data connectivity and coherence
In the endeavour to maintain control of mobility data, cities and local authorities face the formidable challenge of navigating a fragmented and diverse landscape of transportation services, and the data to match. Mobility experts, like Meep, play a pivotal role in addressing this challenge, offering solutions that empower cities to harmonise their data sources, understand the bigger picture, and, ultimately, reclaim control over their mobility services and data.
Meep’s commitment to empowering cities is exemplified in its collaborative efforts with Madrid. In partnership with EMT, Madrid’s public bus operator, Meep is contributing to the city’s Madrid Mobility 360 project, which seeks to create a comprehensive mobility service app. Meep forges connections between legacy systems and more modern players in the transport sector, integrating data, making it accessible from a unified source, and simplifying its interpretation. With this, Madrid can leapfrog the challenges often faced in data management, ensuring that all relevant information is at the fingertips of the city’s transportation authorities.
Meep also collaborates with private bus operators like Alsa, the largest bus operator in Spain, acting as a data bridge to facilitates seamless communication between these private entities and public sector transport operators. This creates a cooperative environment where data can be shared and analysed for the benefit of the city and its residents. Importantly, Meep acts as a standard middleware between these parties, harmonising data for different apps in the market to ensure legacy systems and new applications can communicate effectively, providing cities with the flexibility and adaptability they need to respond to evolving urban mobility demands.
Putting MaaS back on the map
Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) has long been touted as the future of urban transportation, promising seamless, user-centric mobility solutions that transcend traditional barriers. But just viewing MaaS from this perspective is short-sighted. Instead we should widen the scope of how we see and apply MaaS because of the multifaceted benefits it offers to authorities, sustainability goals, and the overall transformation of urban ecosystems.
Tighter control of mobility data at the city level can be the linchpin to ensuring MaaS thrives. While the user experience is central to MaaS, a more comprehensive perspective is needed to unlock its full potential. Tighter control of mobility data within a MaaS framework paves the way for a comprehensive understanding of the operational intricacies across a city’s transportation network. By embracing this, cities can create a synergy between public and private sector data sources, enabling better decisions related to infrastructure, logistics, and last-mile delivery services.
Embracing MaaS is a long-term commitment and, to make it sustainable, cities can find ways to generate revenue through MaaS beyond its core user-centric services, such as potentially using it to derive income from data sources and consulting services. By doing so, it is more than just a connectivity tool; it becomes an instrument that generates value from the wealth of data its constituent mobility services create.
Cities must embrace a more comprehensive perspective of MaaS and recognise the role of tighter data control in realising its potential. By doing so, they not only enhance the user experience but also drive greater sustainability, operational efficiency, and data-driven innovation across the entire urban landscape.
MaaS is not only a route to frictionless multimodal mobility for citizens; it is the key for authorities to gather and connect all of the key mobility data sources together in real time to enable a truly connected digital mobility ecosystem. From this perspective, MaaS becomes key not only to the future of urban mobility, but to unlocking countless possibilities for urban centres to thrive in an increasingly interconnected world.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Guillermo Campoamor
Quelle/Source: Smart Cities World, 09.10.2023
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