LINK at the Swiss Mobility Arena, a meeting point for decision makers, innovators and interested individuals in the mobility sector

The Swiss Mobility Arena is an event sponsored by the Mobility Academy of the Touring Club Switzerland. It was held on September 15 and 16, 2020, in the Eventforum in Bern. The annual conference brings together innovators and interested individuals from the mobility sector. LINK attended, too. LINK conducts regular mobility surveys, including the micro-census on mobility and transportation for the Swiss Statistical Office. The results of the latest micro-census were cited by such speakers as Peter de Haan of EBP and Christian Plüss of PostAuto AG. The focal topics of the two-day event included:

• Congress electromobility: Electromobility at home and on the road
• The Pusch Conference: Cities and towns on the way to net zero mobility
• AUTOMATICAR: The new world of autonomous mobility
• Conference on multi-modal mobility: Get connected together!

The discussions and joy about being able to attend the conference were that much greater because attendees finally had an opportunity to meet in person, have discussions and network following months of pandemic-driven seclusion – nonetheless, all protective measures were observed.

Matthias Winzer, the Head of Population Surveys at LINK, attended the first conference (Day 1) organized by the Pusch Foundation (Practical Environmental Protection) and the Conference for Multimodal Mobility (Day 2). He had some lively discussions with individuals from the world of administration, research and business in the process.

Paths and instruments of sustainable mobility

The Pusch Conference focused on questions regarding ways that mobility can be reduced – if not in terms of volume, then in terms of CO2 emissions – and the instruments that cities and towns can use in their efforts to achieve net zero mobility.

Interesting and thought-provoking input was offered by Peter de Haan of EBP, among others, regarding which players must make which contribution in the drive to achieve this goal. Or by Maike Scherrer of the Zurich University of Applied Sciences on how mobility can be rethought particularly in terms of logistics. She suggested that neighborhood shops could be converted into mini-hubs in which residents could shop for their groceries and pick up packages. This would reduce the amount of delivery traffic on the smallest streets in a neighborhood and provide the shops, businesses that are already under pressure, with new (casual) customers.

The first day concluded with the insights offered by Philipp Huber into the ways that the public-transportation organization Verkehrsbetriebe Schaffhausen strategically prepared and operationally carried out the conversion of its bus fleet from internal combustion engines to battery-driven electric motors, including a charging infrastructure.

NaDIM – a Swiss-wide foundation for multimodal mobility

The second day of the conference on multimodal mobility focused on the National Data Infrastructure Mobility (NaDIM). The speakers and discussions centered first on the challenges related to the creation of the NaDIM, i.e., the aggregation of all available data in Switzerland for the purpose of planning and optimizing (multimodal) mobility. Second, representatives of those groups that ultimately should and want to use the NaDIM discussed their needs and expectations for the system.

The issue was examined from the widest range of perspectives during insightful talks given by the conference speakers. These speakers included Peter Füglistaler, the Director of the Swiss Office of Transport, Vincent Ducrot, the CEO of the Swiss federal railways SBB AG, and a large number of representatives of the private sector and providers of integrated mobility solutions or of mobility covering the «first mile» and «last mile», that is, the distance from a person’s front door to the next public transportation stop or to the location where an individual can enter a well-developed transportation system and reach his or her ultimate destination after deboarding. Thomas Geier of the European Metropolitan Transport Authorities (EMTA), also gave a fascinating presentation. In his talk, he explored NaDIM-like solutions that are already being used in such cities as Paris, Berlin, Helsinki and Amsterdam – solutions that are «only» being applied on the urban level and not the national level, the ultimate focus of the NaDIM. On a national level, NaDIM would be globally unique!

All talks given on the stage had one clear message: Mobility is a collective issue, one that affects each of us and one that can be addressed only by applying collective solutions on the next level.

Given the complexity of the issues already described here, the needs of end consumers, that is, the people whom the range of mobility products and solutions are designed to serve, are not (yet) being systematically addressed everywhere. But this step must be taken in order to be able to analyze and correctly estimate the success potential of these products and services. Let’s take this journey together and learn about the experiences and impressions of your customers by drawing on the know-how of the LINK!