|MAAS IN MEXICO CITY
Above: A sprawling
urban metropolis
such as Mexico
City presents
opportunities for
linking transport
services, but
there are huge
challenges to
overcome
One company that aims to get people moving
in the central American country is Vulog, a
technology developer whose products support
shared mobility services such as car sharing,
ride hailing, hybrid services and autonomous
mobility pilots. The company has teamed up
with car rental giant Alamo’s Mexican franchise
to offer its first car-sharing service.
“Mobility in Mexico City in particular is
extremely inefficient,” says Gregory Ducongé,
CEO of Vulog. “This creates economic, social and
environmental issues: congestion, pollution
030 Intertraffic World | Annual Showcase 2020
and noise, as well as long journey times.
“Like many developing countries,
Mexico is clearly behind a lot of other
nations, and Mexico City is behind
a lot of other large cities, when it
comes to offering clean and efficient
transport options.”
Embracing the future
In theory, developing nations should be more
willing and able to embrace MaaS, because
they don’t have the sort of embedded, longestablished
public transit service that is, by the
nature of having so many operators with vested
interests, resistant to change. The problem here,
however, is that you do need a sophisticated
service in the first place.
“I think MaaS is a long way off yet in
Mexico,” says Ducongé. “First, it’s about creating
basic mobility options and improving public
transport. Up to 20% of journeys in Mexico
City are by car, whereas in somewhere like
Tokyo that figure is less than 10%. Simply,
the inefficient use of cars is creating a mess.”
“Instigating ride sharing in a developing
nation is difficult,” agrees Jack Opiola, joint
founder of the USA-based MaaS Association.
Automobiles are highly prized – cars are seen as a status symbol”
Jack Opiola, joint founder, MaaS Association
20% Proportion of journeys
in Mexico City made by car. In
more developed cities
such as Tokyo that
figure is less
than 10%