Posts tagged with 'technology'
Wi-Fi is becoming increasingly prevalent on transport systems, and could help shift users away from private vehicle use and towards mass transport. Photo by Jens Schott Knudsen/Flickr.
How providing Wi-Fi can increase mass transit ridership
The global rise of smartphone usage has a number of implications for mass transit. It enables ridesharing – a service quickly emerging in cities worldwide. It can improve predictability of transport services through real-time tracking and crowdsourcing apps. It can ...
Traffic congestion presents a number of urgent problems in Nairobi, but smartphones and other technologies have the potential to greatly improve transport services and provide a range of benefits for city residents. Photo by Olli Pitkänen/Flickr.
Using smartphones to improve Nairobi’s informal transport sector
Many cities in sub-Saharan Africa are choking on their traffic, both literally in terms of air pollution and figuratively in terms of congestion. Nairobi, Kenya is no exception. However, new technologies, in particular new uses of smartphones, are helping to ...
As companies such as Uber expand, ridesharing may become an important means of sustainable transport in India and in lower- and middle-income cities worldwide. Photo by Chris JL/Flickr.
Opinion: Ridesharing could revolutionize urban transport in India
Ridesharing has been gaining popularity in the United States and Europe, with companies like Uber, Lyft, BlaBlaCar, and Wundercar facilitating hundreds of thousands of rides a month. This has presented a new, convenient, and affordable alternative means of transport in ...
São Paulo’s MobiLab shows how cities can empower citizens to create mobility solutions through opening data and supporting innovation. Photo by Igor Schutz/Flickr.
How technology can transform urban mobility: A Q&A with São Paulo’s Ciro Biderman
São Paulo’s transport systems generate 30 million data points every day, an amount that exceeds even the city’s 23 million daily trips. Using this data to improve urban mobility is a challenge, but also a key opportunity for cities. That’s where MobiLab, ...
São Paulo has improved sustainable mobility through new bike and bus lanes, a revised master plan, and an innovative approach to support developers creating mobility solutions. Photo by Stanley Calderelli/Flickr.
São Paulo wins 2014 City/State MobiPrize by empowering citizens and fostering innovation
The city of São Paulo has won the 2014 Enterprising City/State MobiPrize following its support of user information and public participation platforms to advance sustainable transport solutions. MobiPrize was launched in 2012 by the University of Michigan SMART (Sustainable Mobility ...
Personal rapid transit could help cities reduce car use and support sustainable transport. Photo via Treehugger.com.
Friday Fun: Can personal rapid transit replace 90% of cars on the road?
Sustainable urban mobility can come from multiple sources. Personal rapid transit (PRT) combines public transport with personalized routing. Though their designs vary, PRT systems generally consist of four- to six-passenger pods that are autonomously controlled while traveling along guide-ways. Instead ...
Transport systems play an important role in shaping the character of an urban environment. Photo by Trey Ratcliff/Flickr.
Friday Fun: Are automated roads the next transport revolution?
Fresh off our discussion of the latest advances in solar-powered roadways, TheCityFix brings you the next future-oriented innovation in road technology: electric roadways. The Tracked Electrical Vehicle (TEV) Project is a radical new concept looking to transform the look, feel, ...
Technology is allowing city residents to interact with their surroundings in new ways, which can have both the benefit of advancing sustainable development and the drawback of reinforcing social divisions. Photo by Daniel Chavez/Flickr.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder: New mapping algorithm poses problems and promise for cities
Yahoo Labs has recently created a mapping algorithm that helps pedestrians find not the shortest route to their destination, but the most attractive one. This is great for visitors who want to spend every second of their time sightseeing in ...
Work schedules outside of the traditional 9 am to 5 pm allow greater flexibility in personal mobility, and in turn decreases congestion in developing cities. Photo by Roger Schultz/Flickr.
The end of rush hour: Technology gives way to new commuting and mobility patterns
For decades, ‘work’ meant spending an eight-hour chunk of your day in an office, industrial facility, or at school. Workers needed to physically occupy a given location in order to do their jobs. Because of this, the trips to and ...
Information-communication technologies have the ability to improve data quality for transport operators while increasing convenience for transport users. Photo by Frederik_Rowing/Flickr.
Across the divide: Information and communication connect users and transport systems
As the situation stands in India, lack of data connectivity inhibits the success of urban transport systems on two fronts. On one hand, transport operators do not have the baseline information to do their job efficiently. On the other hand, ...
Istanbul, Turkey, like many cities in Europe and Asia are turning towards water transport to combat congestion in growing urban areas. Photo by Axeltriple/Flickr.
Friday Fun: Three cities explore water-based transport to improve urban mobility
Rapidly developing cities worldwide, while diverse, have a number of factors in common. Issues that seem nearly universal are congestion and enormous traffic jams, which have, in some extreme cases, stretched the typical commute into a weeklong sojourn. While cities ...
Connecting smart cards and mobile phones enables cities to offer more efficient mobility and a safer, quality experience for all transport users. Photo by EMBARQ Brasil/Flickr.
Connecting data and technology for smarter transport systems
Emerging technologies, together with big data, are tools that allow us to better plan our cities and revolutionize the efficiency and quality of our transport systems. We are seeing threads of this already, as millions of people use smart cards ...
New services are venturing to transform the way the auto-rickshaw sector is managed in Chennai, India - to the benefit of users. Photo by Mattheui Aubry/Flickr.
Hailing autos everywhere: Entrepreneurial ideas transform Chennai’s auto-rickshaw sector
Chennai, the capital of the Southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, has long been infamous for the poor quality of its auto-rickshaw services. Until recently, it was best known for delinquent drivers fleecing passengers as they refused to use fare ...
"Entrepreneurs passionate about using technology to solve difficult transport problems have the opportunity to turn their ideas into reality. Photo by Benoit colin/Flickr."
Friday Fun: Calling all innovators to the Powerful Answers Award
Do you have an idea that could radically change the world, if only you were given the resources to bring it to fruition? Do you see challenges with sustainability, health, or transport in your community and want to solve them ...
There many creative ways to lower the carbon impact of transport. Some ways are zanier than others. Photo byRichard Masoner / www.cyclelicio.us
Top five under-rated low carbon transport solutions
Climate change is not a joke. Here at TheCityFix, we realize that we need to get serious about our strategies to reduce carbon emissions from transport. The world needs to explore bold, creative approaches to climate change mitigation if we ...
Right Menu Icon