Impact Assessments of New Mobility Services: A Critical Review

• Main Authors: Tom Storme, Corneel Casier, Hossein Azadi, Frank Witlox
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-03-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: new mobility services (NMS); impact assessment; social, environmental, and economic aspects; shared mobility; MaaS; Mobihubs
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/6/3074

Assessing the impact of new mobility systems (e.g., shared mobility services, mobility as a service (MaaS), and Mobihubs) in urban contexts remains a challenging endeavor due to the varying priorities (social, economic, and environmental) of different stakeholders and restricted and/or limited availability of data. In a broad sense, new mobility services (NMS) can be characterized as a way of optimizing the ownership and use of a variety of mobility resources, tailored to the needs of an entire (urban) community. In this context, providing an up-to-date and critical review on the impact of NMS is the main contribution and added value of this study. To this end, this study presents an in-depth review of NMS and their diverse features (e.g., car sharing, bike sharing, Mobihubs, etc.), as an alternative to privately-owned travel modes. By reviewing more than 100 relevant sources from academic journals (Google Scholar, Science Direct, and Web of Science) and media reports, this study explains the key elements on how to address the impact assessment of NMS in terms of social, environmental, and economic aspects of sustainable mobility services. This study concludes that the implementation of NMS offers the potential to promote efficiency, sustainability, social equity, and quality of life. The main findings of this study serve as a perfect starting point for mobility providers and policymakers who are concerned about the growing demands for clean and green cities.