Sharing mobility is resisting the effects of coronavirus. Indeed, after a period of natural decline caused by lockdown and social distancing measures, services are making a decisive comeback and are establishing themselves as a valuable ally of public transport. A quiet revolution is under way in Italian cities: while buses, trams and the metro are forced to operate at reduced capacity, the range of alternative and sustainable solutions is growing in parallel — from walking to cycling, from scooters to shared two- and four-wheeled vehicles. This is what emerged from a survey presented at the fourth edition of the National Conference on Sharing Mobility, organised by the National Observatory on Sharing Mobility in partnership with Deloitte, Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI), Uber and Key energy.

The survey results

During the lockdown days, the mobility rate of Italians collapsed from 85 per cent in 2019 to 32 per cent; the effects were also evident on sharing mobility, whose services recorded an average drop in demand of 80 per cent.

The National Observatory on Sharing Mobility — promoted by the Ministry of the Environment and Protection of Land and Sea, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and the Foundation for Sustainable Development — compared February figures with those of May in six sample cities: Rome, Milan, Turin, Bologna, Cagliari and Palermo. The results show that for bike-sharing and shared scooters the picture has already returned to almost pre-Covid-19 levels, recovering 60 and 70 percentage points respectively within just four weeks; car sharing is also recovering, though to a lesser extent (an average of 30 more percentage points in May). Among the cities that recovered most quickly, Palermo stands out, while Milan comes in second place.

The inclinations of Italians

The survey involved 12,688 citizens from the six cities. 71 per cent of respondents said they had started working in smart working or had adopted distance learning solutions, with inevitable repercussions on mobility as a whole that will continue into the post-emergency period as well. But already in April, in the midst of the lockdown, 61 per cent of respondents who had regularly used car sharing before the emergency had stated they were ready to use it again in Phase 2; the percentages were even higher for scooter sharing (66 per cent) and bike sharing (69 per cent).

Sharing mobility: the perception of safety remains good

Also highly significant is the data on perceived safety with regard to the various modes of transport, expressed on a scale of one to five: respondents rated shared vehicles favourably — with a better score for those without an enclosed cabin (3.3 for bike-sharing and 2.6 for car sharing) — placing public transport last (1.8). The survey therefore showed that Italians do not consider sharing mobility services dangerous and have no intention of abandoning the established habits they had before the pandemic; and while in this phase the lighter services using bicycles, scooters and e-scooters are the most popular, shared mobility more broadly confirms itself as a valid alternative to falling demand for public transport and a precious ally for cities in limiting congestion.

The IV National Conference

The presentation of the survey officially launched the fourth edition of the National Conference on Sharing Mobility. This year the event has been transformed into a digital showcase lasting 100 + 2 days (an opening event, a series of appointments spread over a quarter and a closing event) and bears the symbolic title #LessCARS. A completely renewed format but as ever packed with appointments and debates: on the dedicated platform it will be possible to register free of charge and follow three months of online updates on innovative and shared mobility, the latest data and best practices at national and international level.

For Giusy Lombardi, director general of the Ministry of the Environment and Protection of Land and Sea, "the new sustainable mobility revolves around three main axes: active mobility and cycling in particular, mobility management and sharing mobility. The full complementarity and integration of these three drivers with local public transport services is the challenge to be addressed in the short term." These three axes are also fundamental for the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, as director general Angelo Mautone recalled: "The mobility voucher developed in the Climate Decree is the main 'vehicle' through which today, in a joint action between the two ministries, sustainable mobility is being incentivised."

A strategic plan for new mobility is needed

Raimondo Orsini, coordinator of the Sharing Mobility Observatory, highlighted that "the sustainable mobility objective of this country is to reduce car use and therefore also its ownership rate, which is among the highest in the world. It is therefore important to support this quiet revolution already in the conversion into law of the Rilancio decree, helping families who want to embrace these new forms of mobility." New forms — in the view of Luigi Onorato, senior partner at Monitor Deloitte — for which "a strategic plan for new mobility is needed, built on five pillars: safety and social distancing, intermodal mobility models, legislative measures to regulate new forms of mobility, infrastructure development and data sharing between the public and private sectors to improve the management of supply and demand."

A framework within which railway stations, underlined RFI's director of stations Sara Venturoni, represent a "natural hub of integrated mobility, a key node for picking up and dropping off shared mobility vehicles, as well as an ideal setting for positioning electric vehicle charging points. Beyond services, space-sharing needs to be developed around stations — an intelligent sharing of urban space that gives priority to people, no longer to cars." One of the elements at the centre of the Conference's opening event was that of integration. Lorenzo Pireddu, general manager of Uber Italy, is convinced of this, stressing that "contrary to expectations, as the use of sharing systems grows, so does the use of public transport. For this reason our goal is to integrate different transport options into a single app, something we intend to bring to Italy as well, as is already the case in many countries around the world."

More efficiency, speed and interaction

LifeGate will be the media partner of the event: "For twenty years," underlined CEO Enea Roveda, "we have believed in sustainable mobility, capable of minimising its environmental impact while maximising the efficiency, intelligence and speed of travel, and the interaction between users. For this reason, at a moment so full of change, we could not but stand alongside the Observatory on the front line — today as in the year 2000 — to give a voice to the new mobility." Sustainable mobility is one of the founding pillars of a model of smart, interconnected and human-scale cities. Key energy 2020, which will take place at the Rimini Exhibition Centre from 3 to 6 November 2020 alongside Ecomondo, will this year devote even more space to the themes of sustainable mobility. Micromobility, sharing mobility and new business models for local public transport will be the protagonists of a paradigm shift that will place people's needs — and the best tools to meet them — at its centre.