The role of ride-hailing in European mobility’s green transition
“Uber everywhere, pre-rolls in my VIP, ayyy (skrrt-skkrt), yeah, I wanna get the ‘Rari, but I know it takes some time (skrrt-skkrt)” – “Uber Everywhere”, MadeinTYO
Ride-hailing. Shared mobility. Carsharing, ridesharing. Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS). Taxis. Transportation network services (TNCs) which have become genericized brands like Uber, Lyft, or Bolt. New ideas like Poppy or Blablacar. Whatever you call it, you know it when you need it; at the airport, to catch a Flixbus, at the end of a late night, or on a day trip from the city to the country. This type of mobility is integral to the urban landscape, and as our cities grow, so will our transport systems.
Shared mobility will only become more apparent in the lives of city-dwellers. Today, the value of the European shared-mobility market is estimated to be about 70 billion euros, with growth projections estimating 150 billion euros by 2030. In the same time frame, the number of urban trips made by rideshares will double to 7%, with an increase in public transit use, and a decrease in private cars. With this evolution of our mobility system in mind, how can ridesharing grow in a sustainable way?
The inherent eco-friendly nature of ridesharing services
Ridesharing most often functions as a more sustainable alternative to the personal ownership of vehicles. It achieves this in multiple ways.
Shifting away from car-centric communities could improve the quality of life of city living. The Instagram account, “Cars Destroyed our Cities” has been created to highlight “historical, modern and statistical comparisons about why highways, parking lots and stroads ruined our cities for cars” (sic), making transport politics engaging for the internet generation. The account shows side-by-side images of car-centric construction in the 20th century, revealing how communities were literally pushed aside to make way for traffic. The images, however, also give hope: they reveal that cities were not always this way and, with a bit of shared effort and strategic political mobilisation, things could be different in the future, too.
According to “Unparking”, a project by the MIT Senseable City Lab, a private car spends 95% of its active life parked. It sits and rusts, taking up space at home, at work, and on the street. The project’s study showed that today, 2,2% of Singapore is covered in parking lots, rendering that space effectively unusable and unliveable.
A greater presence of shared mobility in urban centres could mean a significant jump in the utility factor of the automobile: fewer cars being more productive. On-demand mobility would pick up and drop off passengers exactly where they need to be, and searching for nearby parking spaces would become a non-issue.
“The transition to shared mobility models will bring tangible reductions in parking infrastructure…As much as 86% of current parking spaces are freed up or repurposed if a complete switch occurs from private cars to shared mobility,” concludes the Unparking project. In a model, they estimate that in a transit model centred on ride hailing and similar services, would result in only ,3% of Singapore reserved for parking. This would free up premium space for real estate, green areas like parks, or wider, safer lanes for pedestrians and cyclists.
A greater presence of shared mobility in urban centres could mean a significant jump in the utility factor of the automobile: fewer cars being more productive.
Fewer cars denote a decrease in pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions too. In a 2023 report by the European Environmental Agency (EEA), the decrease of pollutants emitted in the European Union (EU) since 1990 has been largely attributed to progress made in the road transport sector, spearheaded by the carbon emissions standards and ambient air quality directive policies.
The EEA calls air pollution “Europe’s largest environmental health risk”, linking pollutants to health issues such as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. While progress has already been substantial, and the trajectory is positive, the ideal standards are still not met across the EU, and the rate of change could be accelerated. Ridesharing could play a role in this.
As stated in a report from the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, one shared car replaces four to eight private cars. The study also mentions that the average distance travelled by a carsharing subscriber is reduced by around 18% in comparison to a private car owner, with a reduction of up to 2265 kilograms of CO₂ per year per household, based on 2015 data. Less cars and cuts in emissions of greenhouse gasses (GHGs) improve the atmosphere in congested cities and alleviate pressure on national healthcare systems by preventing illnesses.
The eco-friendly potential of ridesharing services
Electrification of mobility is the future. 18 out of the 20 biggest car companies, or original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), have committed to increase the offer and sales of EVs, and despite controversy, the EU continues to stand by their pledge to ban internal combustion engine manufacturing by 2035.
A report from the McKinsey Center on Future Mobility suggests that ridesharing “could gain market share in urban areas by acknowledging (…) the need for more electric vehicles that help cities meet their guidelines for reducing emissions.”
Additionally, shared mobility services are collaborative mobility services. Ride-hailing company Bolt’s founder and CEO Markus Villig reports that over 40% of user rides begin or end at public transport. A significant part of their service then functions as a single ride within a multimodal journey and relies on a robust public transport system to be of use.
Upward substitution, where a low emission trip is replaced by a less environmentally conscious mode of transport, could potentially happen, but any risks of this could be softened by an approach conscious of the consumer’s habits and needs, with additional incentives implemented if necessary.
A study on Berlin’s mobility future revealed that an aligned multimodal approach, incorporating shared mobility offerings with a low emission output, such as walking or cycling with ridesharing, could enhance public transport use (especially as first and last mile options) and save Berliners 20% of their car trips, or about 2 million tons of CO₂ by 2030.
Thanks to ridesharing, and its emergence through digital technology, multimodality is accessible to anyone with a smartphone.
Roadblock at the EU level to sustainable growth in the ridesharing sector
An obstacle for effective change across the industry is a lack of united advocacy on a Member State level. There are virtually no ride-sharing regulations coming from the European Union, so operators must navigate each EU country’s individual legislation. The latest Urban Mobility Package, published in 2021, while representing a strengthened framework in comparison to previous legislation (even mentioning car sharing as an emerging form of transport) still leaves this gap in policy open.
A significant part of MaaS’ service then functions as a single ride within a multimodal journey and relies on a robust public transport system to be of use.
Change in ride shares could be mobilised through Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans, to maximize benefits. Still, other policies to increase the uptake in more electric car sharing, such as fiscal incentives, could be more effective at the EU level.
Policies assisting in the uptake of eco-friendly mobility practices
With every think piece related to sustainability and automobiles comes the unfortunate necessity to preface anything with a lengthy disclaimer that there is no silver bullet for perfect eco-conscious transport. Here it comes: Passenger vehicles might be a very convenient form of transport today, but they are not the most efficient, flexible, or the most eco-friendly. Any self-respecting environmentalist knows that the daily use of a private car for every individual is not sustainable.
However, it is also clear that cars will not simply disappear.
A transition signifies action and movement, referring to the process of it all. This process, striving towards a beautiful utopian clean-energy-powered transportation system accessible to every EU citizen, stopping just short of learning to teleport, requires many shifts across many policies in order for each lone scrap of legislation for the goal of transit paradise to be fully realized.
The transition itself depends on a united effort, policies working in congruence, with civil society and industry participating enthusiastically, to achieve meaningful climate crisis mitigation.
The EU is aware of this, their ‘Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy’ alone has over 80 initiatives. Policies which support sustainable mobility and maximising the potential of ridesharing companies include but are not limited to alternative fuels infrastructure (AFIR), decarbonisation of the grid, as well as general protection of auto worker’s rights, and subsidising education in green skills.
Where we can go from here
The sector has professed to embrace innovation, and especially with the right support, new forms of ridesharing can emerge. Ideas are abundant. A policy brief from the Horizon2020-funded EU project Stars reports that, “In Belgium, recent research shows that most local government cars do not travel more than 10,000 kilometres per year. During weekends and outside office hours, these vehicles are not used at all. Why not replace them with shared cars and optimise fleet costs?” At this point, why stop at government cars, why not corporate fleets in general?
Ridesharing has so much potential, and the policy and business opportunities are numerous. Creating an avenue for ridesharing regulation at the EU-level would take advantage of this momentum and could invite the benefits of a society committed to sustainability: greater electrification and cleaner mobility overall.
Support for ridesharing could push for a shift in our culture, where cars become the transportation equivalent of a delicacy, and traffic and air pollution are things of the past. With a sustainable transition in urban mobility systems, it will be the people back in the driver’s seat, even if the cars themselves end up autonomous.