CALD moves to transform transport in first hybrid Smart Mobility event

“The key is moving people, not vehicles. Efficient and effective public transport must be at the backbone of the transport system,” said Dr. Segundo Romero, Director of Innovation at the Base of the Pyramid in Southeast Asia (iBop Asia) Program and a Lecturer at the Ateneo de Manila University. Cities continue to grapple with the demands of urbanization, particularly traffic and congestion, and finding effective solutions to achieve more freedom and flexibility in the movement of people is imperative.

On 20-21 April, after two years of holding purely online events due to the pandemic, the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD), with the support of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF), organized its first hybrid workshop in Tagaytay City, Philippines. With the theme, “Smart Mobility in Asia: Identifying Transformative Opportunities and Challenges,” CALD convened virtually and in-person the representatives of CALD member-parties as well as mobility experts from private institutions, the academe, and government to discuss smart mobility developments and issues in the region.

The event is the initial step of the three-year Smart Mobility Project that aims to help select local governments from Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand plan their smart mobility agenda using CALD’s Smart Mobility Guide as reference.

Smart mobility and the power of integration

Every city is unique and problems vary from one country to another. In Taiwan, for example, Ellie Kan from the International Division of Smart City Taiwan explained that the push to go smart is due to traffic congestions, outdated urban planning, evolving consumer behavior, decreasing labor force, and rising environmental concerns. In Indonesia, Dr. Yos Sunitiyoso, vice president for research, development and training at ITS Indonesia, shared that the main reasons why people don’t use public transport included long travel and waiting time, impracticality, cost and inaccessibility.

The goal of both smart cities and smart mobility is to foster the sustainability of cities and the improvement of lives of citizens. While smart cities can be defined in many ways, smart mobility zeroes in on the freedom of movement enabled by data, human interactions, and technology to develop safe, convenient, and intelligent transport systems.

Anita Chen, deputy secretary general of Go Smart Taiwan, noted that smart mobility has four layers that are connected with each other, namely: infrastructure, data, service, and policy. She explained that the integration of all layers are reflected already in the innovations that people currently use – for instance, the all pass ticket system in Taipei and the MeNGo Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) App in Kaohsiung City.

The MeNGo MaaS App integrates multi-modal transport, information and communication technology platform, and payment systems all in one device. Since its implementation in 2016, Kaohsiung has achieved increased public transport usage from 17,000 to 36,000 persons/month, increased revenue of public transport operators from 598,000 to 741,000 NTD, and increased savings for users from 741,000 to 1,120,000 NTD based on 2019 data.

In Indonesia, to enable smart mobility, there is a need to evaluate infrastructures, user behavior (ownership-based to access-based mobility perspective), policies and regulations, environmental impact, and economy and financing.

Sunitiyoso explained that public transport integration means having connected design network, integrated policies, pricing structures and real-time data capabilities, synchronized scheduling, and unified marketing. He also stressed that the process to study and evaluate the history and past experiences of commuters is a necessity.

Currently, Jakarta has 88.2 million daily trips with people commuting 2-4 hours daily and traffic congestions cost $6 billion per year in productivity loss. The passage of government regulations and decree mandates also continue to aid in building and developing transportation programs towards intermodal integration.

The JakLingko is an example of public transport program, aided by local policies, that highlights integrated systems of payments and transportation modes in Jakarta including TransJakarta, KRL Commuter line, MRT, LRT, Railink and local “angkot” or transportation. Understanding user behavior in metropolitan Jakarta can help achieve its target of increasing public transport mode share from 25% in 2019 to 60% in 2029.

While integration is crucial, data analysis is equally critical in achieving efficient transportation ecosystem.

Data-driven planning

Policy makers need guideposts for decision making and in smart mobility, and in this regard, data is gold. “You cannot manage, improve, and control what you do not measure” according to Dr. Erika Legara, Aboitiz Chair in Data Science from the Asian Institute of Management. She said that we should always start with the right questions before implementing data collection and technology. The right question can generate the right data and this data can help in decision-making.

Legara, who previously worked on a project with the Singaporean government on data visualization and model simulation platform, explained the need for more data-driven mindset because implementing policies based on intuition alone can be expensive and catastrophic when wrong.

Sharing data and information also increases access and connectivity to alternative mobility modes. Dr. Jin Young Park, Director at Korea Transport Institute, underlined that the full utilization of existing data and technology can help communities improve operations across cities.

It takes change to make change

Dr. Robert Siy Jr., convenor of Move as One Coalition, highlighted the need for a transformative mindset and approach in dealing with the challenges of mobility. According to him, people need to move to more progressive actions. This means a shift from private transport to public and active transport, which pertains to improvements in bicycle and pedestrian infrastructures.

In the Philippines, there is very minimal budget invested in road-based public transport that is very much needed by the people compared to road-based infrastructures. This shows a “history of neglect” according to Siy.

A shift to a more collaborative approach of working with like-minded individuals such as progressive public servants, legislators, and media practitioners, can be a catalyst for change. Data-sharing and policy analysis coupled by building partnerships can bring down the barriers of misunderstanding regarding the realities in mobility.

Mobility is a basic need and public transport is an essential service, Siy noted. Embracing progressive solutions can, indeed, open doors of opportunities toward new directions.

The CALD Smart Mobility Workshop was facilitated by AltMobility PH’s Ira Cruz and Miguel Karlo Abadines.