Stockholm and Amsterdam lead future of mobility index

Stockholm tops all global cities on Deloitte’s latest City Mobility Index, which uses several criteria to evaluate the future-readiness of urban mobility systems. Amsterdam ranked third on the global index, followed by London and Barcelona. 

Deloitte examined 36 major cities across the world, evaluating them on a diverse set of criteria across three central themes: Performance & resilience; vision & leadership; and service & inclusion. The themes deal with the needs of city residents, but also take into account the future of mobility and the preparedness of each system.

Based on this web of metrics, Stockholm emerged as a global leader in mobility, performing strongly across all metrics. In the performance & resilience bracket, for instance, the city outshone others in managing congestion, reliability of public transport, integrated mobility and modal diversity.

In the vision & leadership bracket, Stockholm excelled in strategy, innovation, regulation and environmental sustainability. Service & inclusion is the most mixed bracket for the city, with stellar performance on metrics such as public transport density and accessibility, and a relatively challenging outlook on affordability and customer satisfaction. All in all, however, Deloitte highlighted that Stockholm has an exemplary mobility landscape from a future of mobility perspective.

“The city has introduced a number of initiatives to reduce transport sector emissions by 43 per cent and become fossil fuel-free by 2040, with higher taxes on new internal combustion engine vehicles and a range of incentives for electric vehicle purchases. It has also built an ecosystem that is conducive to the adoption of autonomous vehicles (AVs), introducing a driverless bus service in 2018 and targeting deployment of Level 4 AVs by 2022. It is currently making substantial investments in its metro system, the first major upgrade since the 1970s,” wrote Dimon Dixon, Partner & Global Transportation Leader at Deloitte.

Singapore is another city of the future, placing in second on the index, followed by Amsterdam. As is evident, room for an electrification drive and the advancement of autonomous vehicles are key metrics for Deloitte’s evaluation of a city. From these standpoints, Amsterdam is going strong.

“Amsterdam’s proactive governance model makes it a testing ground for a variety of smart mobility solutions. The authorities have moved quickly to install an EV charging infrastructure in line with demand, introduce electric buses, and promote public transport and shared mobility in the city centre,” explained Dixon.

Much like Stockholm, the entire mobility stakeholder landscape is involved in improving the systems in place, stretching from government authorities to the private sector. Both Amsterdam and Stockholm have previously been lauded for their planning and vision, and were named urban mobility leaders in 2018 by consulting firm Arthur D. Little.

Deloitte also rates both cities highly, although the firm highlighted certain challenges currently being faced by Amsterdam, which might have weighed down the city’s score in the overall index. Deloitte Consulting Partner & GPS Industry Leader Rob Dubbeldeman pointed out that the city’s emergence as a business and tourism hub is partly responsible for these challenges.

“The city’s economic expansion and its popularity as a tourist destination – attracting more than 19 million visitors per year – means that it needs to create more mobility hubs. Schiphol and Centraal Station do not have sufficient capacity to handle the large numbers of people coming through. The city should expand its transport links to the wider region, eastward through the high-speed rail links, and to other urban areas including the Randstad megalopolis, through completion of RandstadRail,” he said.

Amsterdam was followed on the index by another two European cities – London and Barcelona, making four European cities in the top five. London emerged as a global leader when it comes to investments, but struggles when it comes to managing congestion. Barcelona has made great advances in transitioning away from private transport, although delays have meant that public transport has not been to customers’ satisfaction.

The remainder of the top ten is spread across the world, with Los Angeles, Vancouver, Auckland, Dubai and Shanghai all making an appearance. Deloitte notes that while these cities lead mobility efforts across the world, Covid-19 will likely have posed a whole new set of challenges as hygiene, proximity and touch all become central considerations

While some changes – such as the growing popularity of walking or biking – have only been accentuated by the pandemic, Deloitte highlights that these new concerns bring a host of challenges that challenge the concept of mobility as we know it.