Ride hailing hails the way for MaaS

Dublin’s CO² emissions would reduce by 22 per cent, if 20 per cent of car journeys were replaced with shared mobility or public transport.

That’s according to a recent report from Smart Dublin, an initiative of the four Dublin local authorities which aims to “transform public services and enhance quality of life”. It reckons there is now a once in a generation opportunity to rethink how people get around.

Before the pandemic many places in Ireland, particularly Dublin, had “busy streets, bad traffic, and long journey times”, it says, pointing out that car Satnav company TomTom ranked Dublin 11th worst of 239 European cities for congestion in 2019.

The pandemic saw car traffic fall by 70 per cent of pre-Covid levels, bus usage on city services drop by 90 per cent, and rail usage fall by 97 per cent.

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Though figures have since rebounded, there are other reasons to rethink mobility not least Government aims to reduce carbon emissions. The Climate Action Plan’s goal is to reduce car use by encouraging an additional 500,000 public transport and active travel journeys by 2035.

In the main, walking and cycling is to be prioritised in the city, with trends in personal mobility devices, such as e-scooters, legislated for.

Despite this, the private car still dominates, with around 70 per cent of passenger journey miles in Dublin made by car, according to Google. Mobility as a Service, MaaS, can change that. The idea is to use technology to make it easier for citizens to access and use the right mix of public transport and shared mobility services to get them where they need to go, which, at the same time helps reduce emissions, congestion and journey times.

“I think there is a sense of inevitability that things will move in this direction. Sustainable transport is EU policy and has been since before the pandemic,” says Richard Guiney of Dublin Town, a representative body for the capital’s businesses.

For it to work, investment in public transport infrastructure is vital, he says, pointing out that Dublin’s much mooted Metro was initially flagged as arriving in 2015.

Increased pedestrianisation of streets and the giving over of road space to bikes, e-bikes and e-scooters, which its research shows the public supports indicating consumer sentiment is now firmly behind the move towards personalised and shared transport solutions.

The rise of MaaS tools such as Free Now, a multi-mobility app that aggregates numerous mobility brands and vehicle options, backs this up. It is available across Europe meaning users in Ireland can travel with a seamless booking experience and avail of its mobility offerings including taxi, e-bikes, eScooters, eMopeds and car sharing.

“Through one app we offer a full mobility ecosystem with ride-hailing at its core — through real-time collaboration with our driver partner network Free Now makes urban mobility more efficient and sustainable without adding new vehicles on the street,” explains Fiona Brady, head of operations and public affairs at Free Now Ireland.

In Ireland ride hailing is the backbone of its business but it is continuing to expand its services to reflect the changing ways we now get from A to B. “We hope to be in a position to launch eScooters in 2023 on the Free Now app soon followed by our eBike offering as launched earlier this summer with our app integration with TIER,” she says.

Traditional taxi services are busier than ever — Free Now recorded its busiest day on record on December 11th last — and the company has seen rapid adoption of its Eco-booking service which allows consumers to choose a hybrid or EV taxi at no extra cost.

It is, she says, a further “reflection of the changing mindset of consumers who want more sustainable transport options”.

Shared transport could even have an impact on the thorny issue of housing, reducing the need for so much space to be given over to car parks.

The number of private cars in Europe is set to rise to 273 million by 2025, compared to 263 million today. “These 10 million new private cars will remain parked 95 per cent of the time and will require additional parking space equivalent to the size of Dublin,” she points out. “In a purely shared mobility city around 90 per cent less vehicles are needed.”