The International Transport Forum has released a new shared mobility report that examines how the optimized use of new on-demand shared transport modes could change the future of mobility in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area in Finland. The main aim of the process is to decrease emissions drastically by year 2030.

In the simulation with the study’s focus group, motorized road trips (private car, bus and taxi) trips were replaced by different configurations of six-seater shared taxis that provide on-demand door-to-door service, and taxi-buses that offer a street corner-to-street corner service booked 30 minutes in advance.

The study showed that replacing private car traffic with new shared mobility services in urban areas dramatically reduces the number of cars needed, significantly cuts CO2 emissions and frees large swathes of public land for uses other than parking – without making it more difficult for users to get from door to door.

In the survey, participants chose shared mobility services for 63% of all trips. With these shared services, all of today’s car journeys in Helsinki Metropolitan Area could be provided with just 4% of the current number of private vehicles.

If all private car trips were replaced with ride share transportation, CO2 emissions from cars would fall 34%, congestion would be reduced by 37%, and much of public parking space could be used for other purposes.
This new report largely confirms the initial results from the mobility simulations and data from an earlier study in Lisbon, Portugal.

The International Transport Forum is an intergovernmental organisation with 59 member countries. It acts as a think tank for transport policy and focuses on understanding the role of transport in economic growth, environmental sustainability and social inclusion and to raise the public profile of transport policy.

See the full report here.