Tweet Chat Recap: Unlocking the Grid

April 23, 2015 — Blog

We can’t assume that infrastructure or cars will be the same in the future, but we need to work towards a healthy commute – Charbel Aoun, Senior Vice President – Smart Cities at Schneider Electric, @CJAoun

Cities around the world are either praised or criticized for their traffic management and transport solutions. Catch our April Tweet chat highlights on urban mobility and the topical transport challenges facing cities today.

Unlocking the Grid: Tweet Chat Highlights

What key transport areas need to be targeted to unlock gridlock?

On key streets more people are in mass transit than personal cars. Protected lanes for these vehicles can help improve cities. @Bridj

Good quality bus transport systems, priority for pedestrians and cyclists will ease traffic and improve travel time for commuters. @EMBARQIndia

In London, Stockholm, Milan, traffic decreased by 20% in target area following introduction of congestion charging scheme. @jp_uitp

Which cities are leading the way in multimodal transport?

In Zurich 34 percent of trips on foot or by bike; can get anywhere without a car. We can learn from this. @CJAoun

‘s @TfL and ’s @LTAsg ensure seamless across the metro, buses, light rail, and taxis. @EMBARQIndia

Integrated mobility pioneer offers one-stop-shop application with e-ticketing and multimodal trip planning. @jp_uitp

Which tech solutions are revolutionizing traffic management?

Tech solutions incl: open fare transit systems, smrt parking & innovative payment solutions. http://on.citi.us/127sEBb. @Citi

The coolest & applicable tech is when people can get an accurate notification when the next bus come. Simple, cheap & useful. @elisa_jkt

Tracking speeds in real time, for example by sampling Bluetooth in many locations has improved management in Mass and elsewhere. @Bridj

The coolest will be once we can start rerouting people and traffic around real time information. Waze is a good start. @Placemeter

Should inner city transport become a free urban service?

Higher frequencies rather than lower fares drive shift from private cars to public transport http://bit.ly/1CN4QSL. @jp_uitp

It doesn’t has to be free. The important is that urban service is reliable and help to transport people conveniently and safely. @WidyDen

We’re not sure about free per se but inner city transport should be accessible to all citizens of a city. @Placemeter

Will going car free be an advantage for cities in the future?

India’s car-free movement has seen great potential in improving quality of life @raahgiriday@EqualStreets. @EMBARQIndia

Cleaner, healthier, safer. Urban planners are recognising that streets should be designed for people, not cars. @blazefeed

Cities that can be navigated car-free are more accessible & cost-efficient for citizens/businesses. Healthier too! . @Citi

Cities can benefit for car-free policy applied on specific districts, such as heritage district. @elisa_jkt

Will driverless cars make city transport safer?

Cars – driverless, electric, hybrid – are still cars and not particularly sustainable. @EMBARQIndia

More reliable in spotting and responding to a bike or pedestrian, although poses questions about sedentariness. @blazefeed

Featured Guests Included:

  • Charbel Aoun, Senior Vice President – Smart Cities at Schneider Electric, @CJAoun
  • Citi, New York, @Citi
  • Elisa Sutanudjaja, UNESCO Program Officer and Founder of the Rujak Centre of Urban Studies, @elisa_jkt
  • Bridj, Boston, @Bridj
  • Divya Kottadiel, Editor of TheCityFix, @EMBARQIndia
  • Susan Zielinski, Managing Director of the SMART-initiative, University of Michigan, @SMARTatUMich
  • Jérôme Pourbaix, Head of Policy & Outreach at UITP, @jp_uitp
  • GEPI, Global Entrepreneurs Program Indonesia, @GEPIndonesia
  • Widya Anggraini, urb.im Jakarta Community Manager, @WidyDen
  • Blaze, London, @blazefeed
  • Placemeter, New York City, @Placemeter
  • Alix Armour, Co-founder, Nimble Scooters, @Aliks

Thank you!

Thanks to all of our featured guests, and to the many others that joined in on Twitter. We hope you’ll join us again for our next Tweet chat session. For a full view of the conversation, check out our post on Storify.

To find out more about the New Cities Summit, visit newcitiessummit2015.org and follow #ncs2015 on Twitter.

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