How can mobility data management play an important role in helping cities embrace evolving societal and business needs?
Chapter 1: mobility data access and governance
Movin'On & the cities
the city of Montreal has been a stakeholder in the summit since its origin, in particular through the inclusion of private, public, para-public and high-level academic actors in the panels and working sessions organized. The metropole of Lyon has been a leading actor of the summit from 2018, initially on the topic of development cooperation (presentation of the metro project of the city of Kochi with technical assistance from CODATU - association for urban mobility in the developing world - and with the support of Sytral - mobility operator for greater Lyon - and the metropolis). But it was in 2019 that the three entities - City of Montreal, Metropolis of Lyon and City of Boston - started working together under Movin’On, building on many years of decentralized cooperation. A working session was organized during the Movin’On 2019 summit on the social acceptability of autonomous vehicles, physically bringing together private actors, public authorities such as ADEME and renowned associations.
The three cities are facing common challenges characterized by new urban mobilities and driven by data, which deeply affect local territories. A growing number of private options requiring new uses of public space are emerging (car-sharing, on-demand transport, electric scooters, etc.). These trends disrupt both data management (how should cities, as stewards of the public good, share data?) and mobility policy (based on an overall understanding of a city's supply and demand, what is an integrated and sustainable mobility plan?). In addition, a number of sensitive issues, ranging from climate change to data confidentiality and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, reinforce the relevance of dealing with urban mobility data management and policy in a collaborative and ecosystem manner.
The key question is to determine in what crucial ways the management of mobility data can help cities to adapt to societal changes and business needs. Through this burning question, the Movin'On ecosystem identified a key and complex issue to support. This topic has to involve a broad range of stakeholders to foster innovative collaboration and produce concrete results. Indeed, management of mobility data aims ultimately to improve multimodal mobility (one of the key Movin’On pillars, see below).
Promotion of a common vision: a manifesto
Given the common concerns relating to new mobilities and the existing decentralized cooperation between the three cities, it was natural for the idea of international collaboration on mobility data to emerge. The three cities - Boston, Montreal, and the Metropole of Lyon - consider the thoughtful use of data critical for transportation planning, defending the interests of constituents, and improving sustainability and inclusivity.
As data, sometimes of a sensitive nature, is often collected by various private and public actors and operators, sharing data is not always as easy as expected. To solidify the bridges between stakeholders and strengthen the framework for action, the three entities Boston, Lyon and Montreal have set themselves the objective of drafting a Manifesto to define the main principles of action that should frame the sharing of data in mobility with a view to the common good. Obviously, this Manifesto is articulated with other coinciding projects and initiatives in mind, such as Montreal's Digital Data Charter, and discussions on data governance as part of the Smart Cities Challenge.
This Manifesto will be able to cover four major themes by June 2021 (next Movin’On summit), with the aim of remaining open and potentially inspiring mobility ecosystems around the world:
- Public access and governance
- Ethics
- Private data
- Data standardization