Integrated Mobility and the Governance of Urban Transit
Smart mobility encompasses the development of self-driving, connected vehicles (C/AVs) and new forms of shared mobility. This rapid development is primarily driven by industry, promising that new technologies will increase road safety and reduce emissions (Mukhtar-Landgren & Paulsson, 2020; Council of Canadian Academies 2021). But new technologies are also associated with risks such as increased congestion and inequality (Ferreira et al., 2020; Groth, 2019; Pangbourne et al., 2020). For example, self-driving may increase the car’s attractiveness and lead to mode shifts from more sustainable modes such as public transit to autonomous vehicles (Pakusch et al., 2018). Mobility data produced can support more effective traffic operations. However, government data strategies are fragmented and there is a lack of investment in building out strong digital infrastructures. And finally, shared mobility solutions (e.g., mobility as a service or mobility on demand services like Uber), portrayed as a tool to reduce dependence on personal vehicles, can exacerbate traffic and undermine public transport providers.
Most Canadian cities have been implementing new mobility technologies in increments and through pilot projects. However, the piecemeal adoption of technologies often occurs quietly and without robust public debate. These initiatives lack proper attention paid to governance issues such as data ownership or the commodification of mobility as the public sector recruits private technology partners to provide mobility services. Yet, questions about how governments should steer these changing networks of actors, resources and power are essential. A failure to address both the short and longer-term governance issues risks a lock-in to a mobility system that exacerbates the social and environmental problems that have challenged Canadian planners throughout the automobility transition. This synthesis report seeks to bring clarity and urgency to the debate about the impacts of new technologies by synthesizing our existing knowledge on the state’s critical role in managing the transition to a ‘smart’ transport future.
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