“Free or near Zero Cost” Digital Mobility in the Online world is ushering in a brave new economy. An economy in which value is increasingly driven in the Digital space. Friction-less Mobility in the Online World  has ment that a large portion of consumers are increasingly spending more time online and that has led to businesses going digital following the ” Go where the Customers Go” paradigm.

However it is the real Physical world were the outcomes of a digital effort is realized. it does not really matter if you have 1000 friends online if you have so few enriching relationships in the real world. The Digital exist to improve our lives in the real physical world.

So what Off “Physical Mobility” then. Its damn easy in the online world  and “How would the world look like if  “Physical mobility within Cities” were to be as easy as it is in the Online world?

Can we imagine a world in which people can transport themselves and goods across the city at “near zero costs”  Just like the Digital Experience we now know off. Will it benefit society and economy in a similar way as Online Mobility has? To be very clear on what i mean by Cost, It is not just Dollars.

Let´s look at a few personas that traverse the city lanes every day to enumerate what i mean, purely as a vision exercise.

• Zero Travel Time Costs: Bob, the Designer needs to get to his office

“Time is the only limited resource” says Bob; it is understandable coming from young parent who is also peaking in his career as a designer. His work needs him to be emotionally and rationally immersed and it is somewhat similar when he is home with his young son & Partner.  He finds himself always doing the Commute math, every time he has to get around the city; he has gradually developed a “necessary Evil” view of Commuting to Work.

The problem lies in the fact that travelling in a city can be so stressful; it needs a plan if you are using public transport and much worse if you are driving, as you have to focus all your faculties to it. Bob perceives this time as something he loses forever.

Imagine a city where Bob steps out of his house and in no time he is off in a “Mobility Device” that was waiting in front of his door. It looks and feels like home inside and if he were “working on a new version of his designs” or say “Building a cardboard house with his son” before his commute, he continues as if there has been no change.

After his Son is dropped off right in front of the school door in this silent and clean “Mobility Device”, he gets back to his Designs. He is alerted a few minutes prior to his destination by the Mobility device  and out goes Bob. Now it does not matter to him that he spent 60 min getting there anymore.

Bob is subscribing to the “Maximize Time“ Commute Package that lets him prioritize “Fastest Mode”, “Private Space” OR “Family Space” in any sequence he wants.  He can set the preferences in his calendar in advance and can also make changes within a few minutes of the departure time. He also does not have to worry about the hassles of changing transport means in between his long commute.

Bob has a new saying these days “Space and time are related”, “In the right space; it is always, Time well spent”.

• Zero Social Costs : Anita the Entrepreneur has a productive day

“Trust makes all the difference, I just can´t get enough quality Face to face time with people who matter” it does not help having a Phone call all the time and to synchronize so many calendars and zigzagging thru to city to meet all of them is such a pain all the time” says Anita.

Imagine a city where Anita can book meetings with people when they commute, every “Mass Mobility Device” comes equipped with meeting rooms that you could book if you had the right subscription. Now the 8 hour work day seems so much more productive for both her and her stakeholders.

The other day she was hosting a delegation of investors and had to travel all the way into the industrial area at the outskirts of the city, she could book all of them into a coach Bus with a conference room setup, just thru her calendar and off they went and on the way Anita and her team were able to discuss and make presentations. It was also possible to get overseas participants into the conference thru Virtual reality tools.

Anita no longer feels the same limitation in her job, having to be on the move is now an advantage. “City Mobility is now an extension of my office and I just love the way we have more discussions in the physical world than online, it is so much more productive”. In fact she extends the same thinking to her friends’ network as well; she now meets more of them and has more enriching social life which is not completely reliant on connections in the online world.

• Zero Boredom Cost : Tanya the Tourist

 “ I Love to see new places and cities are my favorite, a city that conserves its history has a charm of its own, an urban landscape would boring if it did not allow for a good blend of Green, ease of getting around and possibility to see the people who make the city what it is”.

Imagine a city where Tanya jumps on a Segway right out of her hotel OR AirBNB. The Segway is activated by a button of her smart phone and provides her with a lot of city tour options and she decides to explore the city with a group of diverse nationalities on a history tour.

In the inner City zone, people are either walking or using horse carriages, bicycles, Segway or Open air low speed electric carts. All this mobility is noiseless, except for the horse carts of course.

She can at any point in Time; Park the Segway at the many docking stations and decide to explore the city with a different option. The city is full of Green spaces and lovely eating spaces in all corners, the chanter of birds, people and the calm breeze is all one can hear.

“Moving around the city seems so easy and a natural thing to do that you hardly seem to notice that you have been out all day, it also makes it possible to meet so many people along the way, it is so much more fulfilling sharing this experience with real people and being present here every second, than spurting out photos by the minute to my online connections”.

All of this with a pre-booked subscription and every mobility device unlocks for her thru the phone.

What is more, the city is full of high resolution cameras and based on her subscription, at the end of the day Tanya gets Candid videos & photos of her amidst all this exploration on her phone.

• Zero Monetary Cost : Zac the Student

“ It is a tricky balance between renting cost and communing cost, the closer i live to the university campus the more i spend on rent and any attempt to lower the spend on rent, i spend a lot more on commuting”. ” Every penny matters with increasing tuition costs and a hazy job market,  i just don´t want to end up with a big education loan at the end of all this”

Imagine a city where Zac pays no cost of commuting, as he can use a Student Subscription that lets him the right to use all transport modes save the ” Private Space/ Family Space ” modes.

In return for enjoying this subscription, Zac puts in a few hours being part customer clinics and feedback sessions with the Mobility providers to help them improve the system. He was also part of a drive to conduct end user surveys, as he commuted he was collecting responses from subscribers who were actually paying for the mobility service.

” It is great to be able to keep my rental costs low without having to worry a lot about commuting cost and the time i spend supporting the mobility provider is nothing short of an internship in marketing”

• Zero Economic Costs : Yuki the Ambulance Driver

“All this new autonomous technology seems to be complicating things for people like me, I can´t help feel that the society is really ignoring the impact of technology on me”

Imagine a City where Yuki starts her work day by looking at big dashboard showing the overall health of the entire City transportation system. The dashboard flashes alerts regarding health of the various mobility devices and utilization.

“Having been a human Expert at driving all these years, I now have the possibility to evaluate how we can improve the user experience with Mobility, I have the possibility to look at high level metrics and then zoom into individual areas and also alert field response staff on any attention needed. I supervise the 10 blocks right at the heart of the city and ensure all the mobility solutions are up and running at their best levels”.

“So many of my former colleagues have moved to the command center roles and field response roles where they remotely operate or drive in person if needed. Some of us have also picked up the skills to trouble shoot and guide the guys perfecting the software running all this”

“I am part of the revolution in Mobility and I am proud of what I do”

• Zero Environmental Cost : Professor Watson, the Climate Warrior

“If earth were to be a human; it so resembles a Chronic Drug addict. Our need to drive growth at all costs is an addiction that is blinding us to sustainable ways of growing. It’s the same process; once an addict discovers the high drugs induce, the mind conspires against the well being of its Host; the Body. Increasingly we humans are the Minds and our Earth the body”

Imagine a City where every citizen knows the impact of each of their mobility choices and pays a price for it, a city where Watson can influence the policy makers with all the data that is so freely flowing from the Mobility system.

Watson can now measure the Air Quality of every point in the city accurately thanks to the sensors on every mobility device. This enables him to identify “No Fossil Fuel Zones” which when mandated can be easily implemented as “No Go Zone” on IC Engines.

Watson can also measure the Energy needs of City Mobility and predict with a great degree of accuracy how it will evolve. He is also now able to qualify all Mobility energy sources, like charging points etc. as “renewable” or “Non Renewable” based on source of power in a dynamic way. This allows the City to price the charging from these sources differently. The Fossil Fuel based sources attract a heavy tax. This has led to “Opportunity Charging” being re defined as “Green Charging”

The Subscription model of Selling Mobility Services has also led to better planning by energy companies, they are now clear on the load demands and can forecast clearly the monetary benefits in investing into renewable Sources.

“Earth seems to be on a recovery path, however just like addiction treatment this is a long term approach and will involve regular monitoring and mindful choices along the way, and what gives me hope is that we can make it, with the right data as an influence”

Technology has always been about people, nowhere is it more evident than the history of Internet & Computing. As long as a technology is not democratized in a way that empowers people & society, it does not flourish.

So will the convergence of technologies such as “Electro Mobility”, ” Artificial Intelligence” & “Connectivity” result in a world where we Share “Digital enabled mobility” for an Enriching Life in the Physical world

OR

Will we forever be stuck in a perfect Online world & increasingly uninterested to navigate the imperfect physical world.