With the popularity of “smart cities” and tech companies getting into the transportation space, we have to ask: are apps going to make our transportation problems go away?
Two articles this morning seem to believe they can. A new app from researchers at the University of Maryland “gamifies” commuting – in other words, rewards commuters with points (and even monetary prizes, like Amazon gift cards) for using public transportation and carpooling instead of driving alone.
And Columbus, Ohio is requesting bids from tech companies to build an all-in-one transit app: the epitome of the “mobility as a service” field where users subscribe to one platform (like Netflix) to access all of their transportation options, from transit to scooters to ride-hailing.
Both of these initiatives rest on the premise that if people can access every one of their city’s transportation options in one place – and have the incentive to use them – single occupancy vehicle trips will be reduced.
Here’s an interesting line from the Washington Post story about the University of Maryland app, called incenTrip. (Aside: that is an awesome name.)
“We know that we can never build our way out of congestion,” said Lei Zhang, director of University of Maryland’s National Transportation Center and the Herbert Rabin distinguished professor of civil engineering. “There is no way we can build enough highways. Transit is good but we don’t have enough money to build all we need.”
Zhang raises a good point. Induced demand means that adding highway lanes will never make traffic better, and unfortunately, transportation funding for projects that actually work is hard to come by these days.
But the idea that technology can save us from political paralysis isn’t enough. Mobility as a service is incredibly important and will help people reduce their amount of drive-alone trips, but to compete with cars (in a system that has been designed entirely for the convenience of drivers at the expense of all other modes), we also need high-quality public transportation and bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure.
Hopefully, through getting more people to ride public transportation, these apps can help inspire renewed investment in transit and other sustainable modes.
Photo by Sam Kittner for Mobility Lab.