Construction World May 2018

MARKETPLACE

ADVANCING URBAN MOBILITY

Victor Radebe, Executive Director and founder of Mobility Centre Africa (MCA), describes MCA as a non-profit company that seeks to bring together government, industry and academia to discuss issues around the future of mobility – particularly with regards to charting a course to the adoption of new technologies in the rapidly changing world of transportation. Construction World spoke to him after the MCA’s third roundtable in Cape Town.

Victor Radebe, Executive Director and founder of Mobility Centre Africa.

effect on the environment) are discussed at these roundtables. “As a tech-savvy nation, the only way we can proactively manage the mobility disrup- tive forces is to first develop a conducive legislative and policy environment; and gov- ernment’s role cannot be overemphasised,” says Radebe. One disruptor Global ride sharing company, Uber, was MCA’s official partner for the 3 rd Future Mobility. Yolisa Kani – Head: Public Pol- icy Southern Africa of Uber says Uber is faced with the same mobility challenges as everyone. “As much as we have disrupted the market, we do not have all the solutions. We want to collaborate, with our experiences and expertise – the common goal is to share information. We are a unique country, so European or South American models cannot merely be transplanted. What stops us from moving quicker than we want to, is not having the correct regulatory environment – and that is why we are part of the conversation about regulations.” Alon Lits, Uber’s General Manager Sub- Saharan Africa says: “The technology exists – Uber is a proven product. It is obviously more complicated than merely taking theory and operationalising that. We do not see it as a threat to the mini-bus industry, but may be perceived to be a threat.” Radebe concludes: “The aim in not to be ahead of Government – we have to be on par. We need mobility regulations for business to thrive for the benefit of members in the community. The discussions have the aim of lessening the gap of what industry can do and what Government perceives as beneficial to the people of the country.” 

The discussion so far This roundtable was the 3 rd in a series of events in a drive to prepare South Africa and the continent at large for improved future mo- bility. It was preceded by two events hosted in Durban and Johannesburg last year. The 1 st Future Mobility Roundtable envisaged the MCA to be a platform for the research, testing and deployment of future Smart Mobility Solutions. The 2 nd Future Mobility Roundta- ble brought together transport and mobility experts who shared insights on the future of mobility on the continent. Unlike the previous three roundtable events the MCA organised, the 4 th Future Mo- bility Roundtable took the form of an 'uncon- ference' to stimulate debate. The theme of this event was 'Predict 2055 Future Mobility'. Rapid urbanisation Because of rapid urbanisation, people’s movement around cities put huge strain on infrastructure. “Mobility is indirectly about the economy. Unfortunately the more successful you are, the more you become the victim of your own success. Autonomous vehicles encourage urban sprawl as people can live outside urban areas but work inside the city,” says Radebe. Public transport systems in South Africa have, largely, been unsuccessful. Most of these systems only transport single digit percentages of the total number of commuters. “Mega-transport systems were aimed at moving 30% of people. It is nowhere

near that figure. People are still sticking to mini-bus taxis as these are far more agile,” Radebe explains. “The problem with these systems is that it is unknown who will move people for the ‘the first and last mile’”. There- for it is failing. Clear motivation The motivation for the MCA is clear: the transport industry in South Africa does not have a good history of collaborating with government. “Road freight, the Automobile Association, the insurance industry, and banks are all part of the value chain, but have historically not worked well with government as the latter believes they are only concerned about profit, while itself is only interested in empowerment and the people on the ground,” says Radebe. “So before we engage actively with government, we want to create a plat- form to start the discourse from scratch. It is something new – no one truly understands the concept of shared mobility yet.” The MCA therefore sets as its goals the proactive management of disruptions (such as UBER), to maintain a competitive auto industry, the development and local- isation of innovations and to avoid a job bloodbath (which, it is perceived, automation will cause). MCA is largely targeting land transpor- tation (the auto-industry) as 40% of urban space is occupied by vehicles. The problems brought on by this (crashes, congestion, affordability of transport and the negative

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CONSTRUCTION WORLD MAY 2018