Why public transport is a must for smart cities

  • November 11, 2021
  • Steve Rogerson

Steve Rogerson compares attitudes to public transport in the USA, Europe and the Far East.

Move conference in London

A few years ago, I attended a conference in Long Beach, California. My arrival plan was simple – fly into Los Angeles airport and get a taxi. However, a fellow journalist from England, who was on the same flight and going to the same conference, said it was dead simple to do this journey by public transport and that he’d worked it all out. I knew the guy to be a sensible chap, so I trusted him and joined him on the two trains that would get us to Long Beach.

Now, I am a big fan of public transport. I use it all the time in the UK. I have used it across Europe. I have used it in Japan and Taiwan. And I have always felt safe.

Not so on that journey to Long Beach. Everybody was staring at these two naive tourists with their luggage; I was sure we were not going to make it unscathed; even the boarding at one point of guardian angel types made me feel more worried rather than less.

In fairness, we arrived at our destination safely, but why was I so uncomfortable?

Edwin Olson

Part of the answer came this week from Edwin Olson, a professor at the University of Michigan and CEO of May Mobility, speaking at the Move conference in London.

He explained how, unlike in Europe, US cities had expanded in a way that was totally geared to people travelling by car; some areas didn’t even have sidewalks. What public transport there was had few stops and ran infrequently. You could be 15 minutes or more away from your nearest bus stop and where it dropped you off was normally a long way away from where you wanted to go.

The result was a public transport system that was only used by those who had no other alternative – that is those with little money. And, as such, investment in this transport system has been low.

“In the USA, public transport is poisoned by the stigma that it is for the poor,” Olson said.

This creates a problem as public transport is seen as a major pillar for any smart city. Olson believes self-driving shuttles are the answer as they could operate for the same cost as a bus.

I am not so sure. When I see the excellent public transport systems in cities as far apart in other ways as London and Taipei, I also see a model that the USA could follow if it was willing to put in the money and the effort. Self-driving shuttles can provide a last kilometre option, such as from the train station to home or from the bus stop to the shopping centre, but mass transportation will always have a role to play. I think it is time for the USA to wake up to that if it is ever going to have truly smart cities.

By the way, at the end of the conference in Long Beach, I took a taxi back to the airport.