2024-12-22T08:59:29-05:00 https://archinect.com/news/article/104709729/helsinki-s-ambitious-plan-to-make-car-ownership-pointless-in-10-years Amelia Taylor-Hochberg 2014-07-21T14:44:00-04:00 >2014-07-24T10:19:26-04:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/6a/6aq22pjnlm9namdq.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><em><p>[Helsinki] has announced plans to transform its existing public transport network into a comprehensive, point-to-point "mobility on demand" system by 2025 ... allowing people to purchase mobility in real time, straight from their smartphones. [...] Subscribers would specify an origin and a destination, and ... the app would then function as both journey planner and universal payment platform, knitting everything from driverless cars and nimble little buses to shared bikes and ferries</p></em><br /><br /><p>Where apps and mass transit collide, commuters struggle most with coordination. Now, with so many different forms of transit, both public and privately mediated, commuters (and cities) need navigation tools that compare all options for them. Making this as accessible as possible, as Helsinki is trying to do, also eases the transition away from private-car ownership, by making all types of transportations options seem just as imminently accessible as your car in the driveway.</p><p>The U.S. is also experimenting with these "point-to-point", "mobility on demand" transit systems. <a href="http://www.bridj.com/#new-page" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Bridj</a>, a new bus company in Boston, doesn't actually own buses but will create routes, nearly in real-time, based on rider's mobility data, and then contract actual bus companies to get people where they need to go.</p>