New catalog inspires urban planners to use self-driving transport

The LINC project published an catalog in September, focusing on how urban and traffic planners can work with sustainable and self-driving public transport to create value for citizens in the future.

“With this catalog, we want to inspire municipalities to use existing urban planning tools when they work with self-driving public transport. An important point is that if we want to get ready for self-driving vehicles as part of sustainable cities, we need to start shaping the way we use public transport today,” says Charlotte Hauerslev, senior project manager at Gate 21.

Among other things, the catalog provides ideas for how self-driving shuttles can be used as a supplement to public transport, with a specific focus on functioning as a first and last-mile solution for the capital’s upcoming light rail in the municipalities along Ring 3.

New solutions require new planning

Even though self-driving shuttles are only being tested at a few select locations in Denmark right now, it is still important that urban planners decide how public transport should adapt to the needs of the future and solutions that are able to strengthen sustainable mobility. So how can cities do this?

The inspiration catalog presents six approaches to incorporating the new sustainable transport opportunities into their planning:

– Transit-Oriented Urban Development – focusing on the station as a hub

– Mobility Management – working with behavioral changes in transport

– Mobility as a Service (MaaS) – creating coherent transport

– Mobility Services and Business Models – we need to think of new collaborations regarding transport solutions

– Shared Spaces – where the separation between cyclists, pedestrians and other road users is less divided, and focuses more on people and green areas

– Smart City and loT-based Mobility Solutions – these are about data and technologies that, among other things, can support transport behavior.

“The inspiration catalog can hopefully help show planners how important it is to get started on mobility planning and re-thinking the city today. There are many things that can already be done to strengthen green modes of transport and make cities more cohesive and accessible. It isn’t enough to wait until the technology is ready – the public transport of the future requires new solutions today,” says Anja Kraag, chief consultant in the Municipality of Gladsaxe, who has been a part of the LINC working group that developed this catalog.

Get inspired: Find out how your municipality can get ready for the public transport of the future. Download the catalog here.