The "End of the Car Age" and how technology makes it happen

A great article from the Guardian (thanks Scott Moen aka Dad!) about how many cities are transitioning away from cars. The article digs into a couple different facets, but I decided to highlight the link between the "end of the car age" and the "digital age," as it relates directly to me.

Digital technology will have a major role in creating collaborative platforms for urban mobility:

"Digital information is the fuel of mobility,” says Gilles Vesco, the politician responsible for the city of Lyon, France's sustainable transport. “Some transport sociologists say that information about mobility is 50% of mobility. The car will become an accessory to the smartphone."

"The more that we have people sharing transportation modes, public space, information and new services, the more attractive the city will be."

In order for cities to compete they will need to be increasingly interconnected and multi-modal: a variety of public transit and healthy lifestyle options that include bike-friendly roadways, cycle superhighways, bike-shares, car-shares, bus service, subways, trams, and increased walkability. This also means cities will need to focus on providing reliable technological infrastructure. Being well connected on a physical and city-wide scale is equally important today as being connected on a digital scale. All which will lessen car-dependence and make owning a private automobile inconvenient relative to the variety of options that are readily available at our fingertips and often times free (transit apps for smartphones) or less expensive.

"Generation Y, or millennials, now in their 20s and early 30s who have come of age in the digital era, seem less wedded to possessions than their baby boomer predecessors. Smartphones are prized objects and the future of transport is likely to be based not on individually owned cars but on “mobility as a service.” Consumers will, so the theory goes, use their smartphones to check ultra-detailed travel news, locate car-club cars or bikes, check for parking spaces, call up Uber drivers, and arrange shared rides. Who needs a personally owned car?"

This may be part of a "theory" of reality in general right now and as far as this article goes, but, on a daily basis I either walk, take a bus, request an Uber, check my real-time travel app, or locate and arrange a car club or share. I am living proof that this is happening right now.