Boris bikes, Autolib and Mu - what a year it has been for eco-mobility

What a year it’s been for mobility! We’ve seen the implementation of Boris bikes in London; and the piloting of the Autolib scheme in Paris – only a concept when it was written up in our Megacities on the Move report a year ago. Mumbai 227, a civil society organization in this city, is pulling together a new party platform for the upcoming municipal election, with a focus on tackling persistent problems such as poor public transport.

Peugeot-Citroen, having spent much of this century as a run-of-the-mill car company, has piloted a ‘mobility service’ called Mu, whereby its customers can rent on-demand a range of different vehicles from its showrooms. And, on a much smaller scale and very much in my own back yard, I now pick up a cup of coffee and use free wi-fi while waiting for my bike to get a tune up at Look Mum, No Hands – my local coffee shop/work centre/cycle workshop.

There is generally a lot more buzz about sustainable mobility, smart cities, eco transport and so on. And the cool thing about some of the latest solutions is that, over time, they’ve become much more people-centered: we are increasingly creating tools and technologies which enable behaviour change and different cultural norms amongst people moving and shaking in cities. Loads of people grumbled when Boris bikes launched, but now many of us are happily peddaling around. And I hear there are similar grumbles amongst Parisians about Autolib right now, which will probably also dissipate as people get acclimatized to the notion of sharing car ownership and adjust their behaviour patterns.

Check out our video segment on change in the mobility space – today and in the future – which will also be broadcast at the upcoming ecomobility conference in Paris. The conference will stream online, and all delegates attending in person will get their own iPads which they can use to expand the conference network further by blogging about the event live. Talk about behaviour change, eh?

Watch above or click here to watch Forum's Ivana Gazibara speak about a scenario for the future of mobility. 

Forum's Anna Simpson will be blogging and tweeting live from the Ecomobility conference in Paris on 22nd November.