Post-Car? Helsinki's Plans for a Tech-Enabled Mobility Network

Helsinki, capital of Finland's, is working to create a "mobility on demand" system that integrates shared and public transit in a single payment network. The idea is that with such a system in place, residents would no longer need cars.

1 minute read

July 16, 2014, 12:00 PM PDT

By rbregoff


"The Finnish capital has announced plans to transform its existing public transport network into a comprehensive, point-to-point 'mobility on demand' system by 2025 – one that, in theory, would be so good nobody would have any reason to own a car," reports Adam Greenfield.  

"Helsinki aims to transcend conventional public transport by allowing people to purchase mobility in real time, straight from their smartphones. The hope is to furnish riders with an array of options so cheap, flexible and well-coordinated that it becomes competitive with private car ownership not merely on cost, but on convenience and ease of use." 

"Imagine the popular transit planner Citymapper fused to a cycle hire service and a taxi app such as Hailo or Uber, with only one payment required, and the whole thing run as a public utility, and you begin to understand the scale of ambition here."

Thursday, July 10, 2014 in Guardian Cities

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