Metros, cars, bikes: while this combo still has a bright future, the realities that it conceals and the balance between its different components are experiencing profound change. Claire Duthu (E14), Senior Pre-sales Manager at Padam Mobility, tells us more in Reflets Magazine #140. Here is a free online translation of the article… click here to read the rest of the issue (in French)!

Reflets Magazine: What new forms of mobility are cities developing in light of contemporary challenges?

Claire Duthu: The first trend is in clean energy, with electric, hydrogen, and bio-fuel vehicles. The second: car clubs, with medium and long-term rentals, as well as free-floating availability where the idea of usage takes precedence over ownership. The third trend: micro-mobility for the first and last mile, using bikes and scooters. The fourth trend: multi-modal transport, which makes journeys easier by improving connections between different modes of transport and transport networks. And the final trend: driverless cars, which still have plenty of technical and ethical challenges to overcome, but whose value has already been proven. 

RM: Are all of these new mobilities sustainable? 

C. Duthu: At first glance, they seem to provide ways to optimise passenger numbers, journey times, distance travelled, and therefore the volume of CO2 emissions per journey. However, you then realise that scooters have an average lifespan of 28 days, due mainly to vandalism, or that electric batteries require rare and difficult-to-recycle materials, and that they all too often depend on sources of energy that aren’t, themselves, “green”.

RM: How can we overcome these pitfalls?

C. Duthu: Scooter users, in particular, are grappling with that question. Tier Mobility offers to pay its customers if they drop empty batteries off at partner stores themselves, rather than entrusting this task to vans with combustion engines travelling all over the city. They are also opting for more recyclable materials, as well as parts that can be changed or reused in case of breakdown.

RM: Is traditional public transport itself evolving towards a more sustainable model, in parallel?

C. Duthu: Public transport is an inherently more sustainable solution than individual cars. What’s needed is to use more fleets of electric or hydrogen-fuelled vehicles for both road and rail transport. The RATP transport authority in Paris has set a target of halving its greenhouse gas emissions by 2025.

RM: How can we reconcile public health and environmental challenges in urban mobility?

C. Duthu: The Covid pandemic had a mixed effect. On the one hand, bicycle use in Paris increased by 50% between 2019 and 2020. On the other, twice as many people in China are buying individual cars now than before the pandemic, as they are seen as safer. In any case, public and shared transport have seen a drop in users. However, public transport operators have now got into the habit of disinfecting their vehicles, and some are trialling systems to display how busy the network is in real time and aim to deliver timetables that facilitate social distancing.

RM: What effect is government policy having on encouraging the development of sustainable transport in cities? 

C. Duthu: Governments can and must play a driving role in the development of sustainable mobility. This translates into their choice of transport operators, subsidies for businesses and grants for citizens, and the construction of the necessary infrastructure: cycle paths, charge points, etc.

RM: And what can businesses do?

C. Duthu: The daily commute accounts for 40% of French travel, and this places businesses on the front line. The Mobility orientation law on transport (LOM) gives them more resources to manage this, especially with the introduction of the Sustainable Mobility Grant that gives employees a €600 tax break every year to help them pay for using environmentally responsible transport.

Interview by Louis Armengaud Wurmser (E10), Content Manager at ESSEC Alumni 

Translation of an article published in the “Ville de demain, ville durable ?” [“The City of Tomorrow, a Sustainable City?”] report in Reflets Magazine # 140. Subscribe here to get the next issues (in French)!"