PROJECT FOUR - SMART, SHARED, SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY
The Commission was clear that for the city to be successful in the future, everyone who lives, works, studies or does business here must be able to move freely and on demand, and not be reliant on access to a private car. The Smart, Shared, Sustainable Mobility project reflects the growing move towards ‘Mobility as a Service’ and the use of autonomous and electric vehicles, and the opportunities that these trends could create for Milton Keynes.
This project was aligned with the preparation of a Mobility Strategy to support Plan:MK. It also linked with the Strategy for 2050, to reflect how different forms of transport will change the way the city works and how land will be used. For example, if vehicles dropping workers off at offices or the station in CMK in the morning can drive themselves off be used for other journeys throughout the day, what opportunities could that create for the land currently used for car parking in the city centre? Through this project, we explored issues such as this, and how we can put in place mechanisms and policies that mean we can take advantage of the opportunities that new technologies can bring.
Research to look at an Innovative Mobility Roadmap (available here) took a longer-term view of the sorts of interventions and policies that might be needed to support future transport innovation. The work on a First-Last Mile Strategy submitted to the NIC was co-ordinated with related work by Oxford and Cambridge and included a shared focus on developing innovative mass transit solutions.
'Mobility as a Service' is the move away from personally owned modes of transport towards mobility solutions that are consumed as a service. This might mean users combine services from both public and private providers through a single gateway that creates and manages the trip (accessed through an app on a mobile phone or tablet), which users pay for with a single account rather than an account for each different mode or provider. This payment could be on a pay as you go basis, or as a monthly subscription.
MASS RAPID TRANSIT FOR MILTON KEYNES
As part of the evidence base for the MK City Plan 2050, work has been progressing to explore the potential for Mass Rapid Transit in Milton Keynes in more detail. This is leading to the development of an Outline Business Case which will explore routes, vehicles and delivery approaches in more detail.