Mobility Matters Daily #259 – Cars saving lives, MaaS, and buses

Good day my good friend.

Every day I try to bring you things that help you to better understand the world of transport, how it affects our world, and what we can do about it. I hope that you find the newsletter useful and constructive. If you have found something that you think others might be interested in, then drop me a line at james@mobilitylab.org.uk.

James

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Turns out that cars could be life savers

In 2020, 1460 people were killed on the roads of the UK, and many thousands more injured. Cars and the people who drive them kill, a lot. But in a few instances, they may actually save lives, especially where time is of the essence. Not least where there is a medical emergency.

A pilot study from Finland identified that of their study population, 14% had said that someone in their household had used a car to transport someone needing urgent medical attention. This study needs to be heavily caveated – its a pilot study after all. But it offers some interesting insight into how the use of cars could save lives.

An ambulance dropping off a patient at a hospital

The business model that you want in MaaS depends on what you want to achieve

How do you deliver mobility as a service that is liberating to individuals, ensures equitable outcomes, gives freedom of choice but increases the use of sustainable modes, all while being profitable and generating money for operators? MaaS advocates are right: there is no one-size fits all for MaaS. That is because the service offering you deliver depends on what you want to achieve.

While this new study is yet another study into MaaS business models, this one is actually insightful. This study classifies into 3 classes, and states that different ones are better for competition, price, and social welfare. It’s largely theoretical, but if you are thinking about what MaaS should achieve, its instructive.

Electrification of buses needs everyone to pull in the same direction

One of the things that I can never understand is how people who favour reducing carbon emissions from transport object to electrifying the vehicle fleet. Making such a change requires stakeholders to pull in the same direction, as shown by recent research on the barriers to introducing electric buses into fleets in Sweden and the UK. This makes for a landscape where it is messy to introduce change:

[The] best method to introduce electric buses is therefore very independent from case to case and the current circumstances in a city must be considered. This includes for example national support, the stakeholders involved and the division of responsibility, passenger demand and route characteristics. A question that can also be raised is whether electric buses should adjust to the current system and organisation or there is a need for a system change to enable large scale introduction.

Random things

These links are meant to make you think about the things that affect our world in transport, and not just think about transport itself. I hope they do just that.