All forms of car-sharing, bike-sharing and taxi-sharing are part of this transformation in how we create companies and how we use assets. All are made possible by individuals contributing their assets (their car) to meet other individuals’ demand for mobility. There is the rise of collaboratively built, collaboratively financed and collaboratively consumed infrastructure and services. I’m most excited about two revolutions underway, both having to do with the rise of shared and distributed systems. 3) What recent advances and innovations in urban mobility excite you the most right now? Providing easy, sustainable, low-cost access to jobs, education, retail and leisure activities is critical. We need to make living in those cities both economically and personally rewarding and continue to encourage the shift to this more efficient lifestyle. Cities are dramatically more energy efficient to live in than rural areas. We also know that more than 50 percent of the world’s residents choose to live in cities, and this is increasing every day. Worldwide, transportation contributes to 23 percent of the world’s emissions and one single item-personal cars-makes up 60-70 percent of those emissions. 2) What makes a city-level issue like urban mobility so important to the fight against global climate change? Parking requirements for building developments in cities around the world have also changed as a result of the real concrete shift around car ownership that Zipcar spearheaded. So almost one million people have chosen to use Zipcar as of part of their multi-modal transport in cities across North America, in the United Kingdom and several other European cities. Zipcar has proven that car-sharing can be as convenient and easy as owning your own car. In addition, Zipcar members drive 60-80 percent less than people who own their own cars. In fact, each personal car requires three parking spaces (work, home and retail), so you might also say that each Zipcar removes the need for 45 parking spaces. Each Zipcar removes 15 personal vehicles off of city streets and out of city parking spaces. Zipcar has transformed not only the cities the company works in, but also the expectation and aspiration in most major metropolitan areas. Photo by Amit Gupta/Flickr 1) How have you seen the companies you founded – like ZipCar, for instance – transform mobility in the cities you’ve worked in? Robin Chase is the founder of Zipcar, Buzzcar and GoLoco.
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