The Smart City and the Rise of the Mobility Era in Travel

“With the rise of smart cities comes the rise of the smart mobility era.” This, part of the Skift Manifesto, released to both celebrate its third anniversary covering travel and technology and to highlight what travel will look like in 2020, is a statement that they have been making for months, as highlighted in their series on smart mobility.

But what is a smart city? What is smart mobility? How will the two align to change the travel experience now and in the future?

Defining Smart Cities

With the rise of urbanization (80% of the world’s population will be living in cities by 2050), the growth of the global middle class, and a boom in population, comes the need for smart cities. A ‘Smart City,’ coined by IBM as part of its Smarter Planet initiative and broken into eight factors by Frost & Sullivan consists of at least five of the following factors:

• Smart Healthcare
• Smart Building
• Smart Mobility
• Smart Infrastructure
• Smart Technology
• Smart Energy
• Smart Citizen
• Smart Governance and Smart Education

The main aspect of this will be the rise of smart mobility. Technologies that already exist, from bike sharing to on-demand ride services will become the norm, and technologies that are in early stages will seek to disrupt the travel and mobility platform further. This will lead to, as defined by Skift, the Mobility Era.

What is the Mobility Era?

Mobility, and the mobility era, will be driven by travelers using all of, or the best of, the various modes of transportation available, rather than relying solely on one transportation mode.

“Planning, buying & undertaking travel will no longer be discrete parts to be put together. The journey and its booking will be as seamless as possible, offering solutions to problems when they happen, and if possible even before they happen.”

Everything from the flight to the hotel to the block-by-block maneuver by bike or rideshare will be considered, and will adapt to the traveler.

Just as the hotel industry was changed in the 1990s with the rise of comparison shopping and online travel agencies (OTAs); the industry will change again, and connectivity will be the driver.

As the mobility era provides opportunities to travelers, we look forward to quantifying how this will affect the travel payments industry. If you’d like to learn what’s new and what’s next in travel, we invite you to sign up for our e-newsletter.

Sources: Skift Manifesto, The Rise of the Smart Mobility Era, Tech Innovations behind Smart Mobility