- Warsaw, Gdynia, Pruszków, and Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki are among the most friendly cities in Poland for shared mobility in their respective categories.
- The Mobile City Association, together with experts from the Warsaw School of Economics, examined 213 cities. They considered city regulations, infrastructure, transport diversity, and use of data and new technologies.
- The ranking is accompanied by a report with conclusions and recommendations on how to promote sustainable mobility in Polish cities.
The “Mobile City Award” is the first study in Poland examining locations – from small to large – in terms of their openness and support for shared mobility services. The authors of the ranking assessed as many as 213 cities – all that had self-service bicycle systems, electric scooter services, e-scooters, and car sharing available in the last year (2022).
– We wanted to examine and then show others which cities and how they take care of shared mobility, which is very important for sustainable transport in the city. So far, however, there has been no compilation in Poland that would show the diversity of cities in terms of conditions for its development. Our ranking and report, created in scientific cooperation with a panel of experts from the Warsaw School of Economics, is a unique source of information in this field – says Adam Jędrzejewski, founder and president of Mobile City (MM), an association that promotes sustainable transport by supporting shared mobility services.
In addition to MM’s president, the expert panel included scientists from the Warsaw School of Economics: Prof. Marek Bryx (chairman of the panel), Prof. Anna Szelągowska, Dr. Izabela Rudzka, and PhD candidate Grzegorz Młynarski. In assessing the cities, the team took into account both quantitative and qualitative criteria. The former included the diversity of shared transport services in the city and the density of the offer, i.e. the number of shared vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants.
The qualitative evaluation concerned the openness and friendliness of cities towards shared mobility solutions – it consisted of 20 measures in four areas. The focus was on:
- regulations and city policies,
- infrastructure conditions,
- transport diversification,
- utilization of data and technologies associated with shared mobility.
Most “mobile” cities in Poland
The ranking was divided into four categories according to the size of the cities:
- In the group of below 30,000 inhabitants, Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki (55%) provides the best conditions for the development of shared mobility. The following places were taken by Reda and Koluszki.
- Among cities with 30,000 – 100,000 inhabitants, the highest rating was received by Pruszków (53%). Piaseczno and Słupsk also made it to the podium.
- In the group of cities with 100,000 – 300,000 inhabitants, Gdynia (89%) performed the best. The following positions were filled by Katowice and Chorzów.
- In the category of the largest agglomerations, Warsaw (92%) topped the ranking, ahead of Poznań and Gdańsk.
– Warsaw has incorporated shared transport into many of its strategic development documents, which deserves recognition. The challenge remains, however, to translate these assumptions into reality visible on the streets – the report from the first edition of the “Mobile City Title” reads, which contains the full ranking results (it can be downloaded for free from the association’s website – the link is at the bottom of the press information).
What is a “mobile” city?
According to the authors of the report, a model “mobile” city is one where the share of private car traffic accounts for about 10% of the total number of displacements (today’s indicators oscillate around 40%). In a model city, residents’ journeys are made to a greater extent thanks to the combined offer of public and shared transport. In the optimal version of this scenario, residents can use a digital platform of the MaaS (Mobility-as-a-Service) type, just as they use Google Maps or Jakdojade today. A model “mobile” city should also have effective regulations, allowing the popularity of shared mobility to grow, as well as infrastructure supporting this way of moving around.
In response to the current diagnosis, the report is also a source of recommendations for local governments. Proper data management from transport service providers, offering residents digital MaaS platforms, combining public and shared transport offers or creating so-called mobility hubs, concentrating shared cars, bikes, scooters, and e-scooters at key city points – all these are steps helpful in building an efficient transport ecosystem.
– The recommended actions do not require significant reorganization or rebuilding from cities. It is rather the creation of local regulatory frameworks, systematic cooperation of the city with mobility service providers, digitization of these services, point interventions in infrastructure and activities popularizing more sustainable urban mobility among residents – says Grzegorz Młynarski, a PhD student at the Warsaw School of Economics, also active in MM.
