Mobike Among World’s Top 15 Transport Companies to Commit to Making Cities More Livable

(Source: Mobike)

Fifteen of the world’s leading transportation and technology companies, including Mobike, signed the Shared Mobility Principles for Livable Cities today, making a commitment to prioritize people over vehicles, lower emissions, promote equity, and encourage data-sharing, among other goals.

Collectively around the world, there is more pollution, streets are more congested, and fatalities on the road increase each year. Mobike understands that there is a responsibility to work toward making cities more livable through shared transportation and continually strives to be a part of the solution.

More than 1.25 million people are killed on roads each year, making traffic fatalities the tenth leading cause of death worldwide. Countries such as the Netherlands and Norway have taken approaches to create a Safe System to prevent road deaths, and a new WRI report shows countries employing a Safe System have achieved both the lowest rates of traffic deaths and the largest reductions in fatalities over the past 20 years.

More than one million deaths could be avoided every year if the rest of the world achieved levels of road safety comparable to these best-performing countries.

The Shared Mobility Principles provide a clear vision for the future of cities and create alignment between city governments, private companies and NGOs working to make them more livable.

Mobike’s CEO and co-founder Davis Wang said:

"In cities around the world, people's lives improve significantly from the responsible expansion of shared transportation options including bikes, rides and cars. As a group, we all have the same goal of improving quality of life in cities, and now, united, we have a framework for how our systems can collectively work toward this goal."

The Shared Mobility Principles for Livable Cities are:

We plan our cities and their mobility together.

We prioritize people over vehicles.

We support the shared and efficient use of vehicles, lanes, curbs, and land.

We engage with stakeholders.

We promote equity.

We lead the transition towards a zero-emission future and renewable energy.

We support fair user fees across all modes.

We aim for public benefits via open data.

We work towards integration and seamless connectivity.

We support that autonomous vehicles in dense urban areas should be operated only in shared fleets.

The principles were developed by Zipcar co-Founder Robin Chase, and a group of leading city and transport organizations including:

C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group

ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability

Institute for Transportation and Development Policy

Natural Resources Defense Council

Partnership on Sustainable Low Carbon Transport (SLoCaT)

Transportation for America (T4America)

Rocky Mountain Institute

Shared-Use Mobility Center

WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities

Here are some ways Mobike has already contributed to achieving some of these principles:

SMP #3 – Mobike can use bike route and parking data to help cities plan future infrastructure projects. When considering investing in bike lanes, special parking areas or other bicycle-friendly projects, local municipalities can benefit immensely from Mobike’s big data analysis of the routes and destinations that are most popular among cyclists. The Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning and Design has begun using our data to conduct its first-ever evidence-based research on the construction of future bike lanes.

SMP #5 – In Washington, DC, Mobike partnered with Covenant House Washington to allocate 10,000 free rides to homeless and trafficked youth.

SMP #6 – In December 2017, Mobike was named among the 2017 Champions of the Earth by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), in recognition of its transformative contribution to the advancement of low carbon public transport.

Zipcar’s co-founder Robin Chase said:

"For most cities, urban planners, legislators and residents, there is a cacophony of advice. Our goal is to align cities, the private sector and civil society around a shared vision to ensure we harness the good and avoid the bad of new business models and technologies. These companies represent some of the biggest players and we are thrilled to see we share common goals, like a commitment to zero-emission vehicles and efficient use of urban roads."