Introduction

The West Midlands is the UK’s first Future Mobility Zone, leading the way to enable rapid scaling up of new transport system solutions focused on travellers across all major urban centres in the UK. Government specifically excluded freight and logistics activity, albeit this remains a critical focus for the West Midlands. £20m capital and £2m revenue funding has been secured from the Department for Transport to fund a programme taking place from 2019-2023. 

Investment Propositions:

We are looking for partners to work with us on these exciting new programmes of work:

• Demand Responsive Transport delivers the regions first “app based” DRT programme and is now available in and around Coventry through a Collaboration with the University of Warwick with more DRT roll out planned. This gives passengers on demand flexible travel through their phone.

• E-Scooters offer the potential for convenient, fun, clean and affordable travel, reduce reliance on car trips and lower harmful tailpipe emissions. As part of the response to Covid-19, the Department for Transport (DFT) has made changes that allow e-scooters to be used on public roads within an allocated operational zone, often using the same road space as cyclists. The aim of the scheme is to trial the new form of transport locally, and offer local people a greener way to travel around in the future. There has been a considerable interest and roll out in the West Midlands.

• Mobility Hubs are an area where multiple modes of transport are co-located to offer integrated and connected transport options. These can also be supplemented with a number of alternative services and facilities, in particular sustainable transport options, allowing the user to benefit from further aspects alongside targeting all of their transport needs. These sustainable transport options can range from human-powered (bicycles), shared mobility (car share clubs) to electric mobility (e-bikes, e-scooters, EV). This opportunity to choose from a variety of multimodal transport choices is recognised as the key influence in encouraging people to trial, and continually use mobility hubs. A mobility hub also offers a place for local facilities, such a shared working space or pop up businesses. 

• Mobility as a Service: Target to create regional MaaS product that builds upon core ticketing functionality already available through Swift but applies a new customer interface and service integration capability to make the most compelling customer offer. The opportunity is for this to expand into the communications and energy sectors.