Living in the city without owning a car makes sense, says Martyn Briggs

The dominance of private car ownership is being challenged by a shift to a “more multi-modal society where city dwellers access cars on demand rather than own them”, according to Martyn Briggs, Industry Principal at consultancy Frost & Sullivan. Increasingly, people in cities are choosing car club or rental solutions, or taxi, private hire and ridesharing solutions, Briggs observes.

“This is particularly the case in densely populated areas such as London, owing to the perfect combination of congestion, parking supply constraints and costs, and policy measures that have discouraged private car use such as the congestion charge, and reinvesting that revenue in improved public transport.”

There has also been a shift in the policy and regulatory environment towards cars in cities, Briggs notes. This is paving the way for new mobility solutions such as car-sharing models, and technology-based hailing services. 

“There is a realisation that a combination of these business models can also lead to a reduction in private car ownership if operated at scale.”

At Intelligent City Mobility Martyn Briggs will discuss the “converging trends that are leading to this shift away from private cars, the new mobility business models that are becoming well established, and the potential impacts these services can realise in our cities now and in the future”.