With smartphone and other technologies making it easier to spontaneously chose between many different forms of urban transport, people no longer automatically associate mobility with owning a car … In London, 40% of households do not own a car, according to a 2012 report by Transport for London …
The decline in car ownership is particularly evident in the capital’s fall in multi-car households, which dropped from 21% in 2001 to 17% in 2007.
Instead of the traditional focus on cars and driving, people are mixing and matching their transport choices – using what they need when they need it – and the radical advances in technology are making such “smart mobility” possible.
Mobile apps can make travelling by different modes of transport seamless. It is now easy to combine air, rail and car travel in new ways to reach a destination.
Londoners can access Boris bikes, the Tube, rail networks, taxis, car sharing schemes, car rental and even hire practical vans for visits to B&Q – all via their smartphones.
