As the technological revolution is covering every corner of the smart city initiative, the transportation sector is not left behind. Smart cities aim at making the life of the residents in the smart city more efficient and comfortable. To understand the recipe of the smart city, major economic sectors such as industries, markets, and energy need to face the modern revolution. In short, from shops to schools and from hospitals to hotels, a modern city is made of different parts. However, the transportation system is one of the major sectors in smart city transportation that cannot be abandoned.
For mobility in the cities and outside the cities, modern technology needs to be implemented. This is through the use of transport systems that are modernized and enhanced towards making the transport services easier and more efficient. The smart city transportation concept is aimed at improving and connecting the various transport systems to interface with smart connected cities. Different forms of transport in smart cities include rail transport, air transport, and road transport that is the most used form of transport. Other smart cities depend on smart water transport. We, therefore, expect many changes in mobility and transportation in cities shortly. Transportation has always had an impact on how cities are organized and function. Cities’ transportation systems are also encouraged to adopt modern technology.
The transport sector in every city depends on how the cities are organized and function. However, the main emphasis has to be channeled on the implementation of the goals that aim towards making smart city transportation a reality. One of the main aims of adopting the modernization of the transportation systems is reducing the cost of transportation incurred by many residents in the cities. Modernization also aims at promoting environmental preservation by reducing the number of systems that use fossil fuels. Transport vehicles in the cities are one of the major emitters of gases which are regarded as large air pollutants. As a result of this modern technology has come up with common solutions that can be used in the transport sector to improve its services to the citizens.
As a result, various technological advancements have been injected in this sector of smart city transportation. In road transport, technology has seen to the development of smart cars that depend on electricity and solar power. As a result, there is a mobility platform that produces energy instead of using it. An example is a solar-powered car built by the students of TU/e. Urban transport will largely depend on solar in the future. Smart solar vehicles are environmentally friendly since they do not emit any waste to the environment. Other types of technology include smart electric cars and self-driven cars. The cars once charged can depend on the charged batteries for movement from one place to another. Other forms of smart transport are applied in the railways where there is a current development of high-speed electric trains that use both solar and electricity. In cities, people can use smart buses and smart taxis for transportation. Through various mobile apps, the transport systems can be made known to the citizens of the city where citizens can use them to book tickets online.
And how does smart city transportation impacts its citizens?
Positive impacts – the citizens in smart cities will gain through use of smart city transportation systems. The use of solar vehicles will mean that most of the vehicles will always be packed with open areas and fields. People will not park their cars in underground spaces and homes. As a result, people will always use the spaces previously used for parking to do other constructive things such as indoor agriculture through the use of LED technology. Citizens also enjoy reduced cost of energy since using solar-powered cars majorly depends on solar-powered energy. There is also reduced air pollution since smart cars have reduced gas emissions.
Negative impacts – adopting smart city transport systems is hard because of the higher costs that come with them. The common citizens find it hard to purchase vehicles that use such kind of technology because they are more expensive to acquire. This will prove it hard for smart cities to implement such ideas in time. The systems are also complicated for an average citizen to understand and use. They will have to need some training to be able to use them comfortably.
Popular Applications
Smart city transportations are commonly used by residents in various cities for effective transportation of passengers. The modernized systems are also used to transport goods from one point in the city to another point. Smart city transportation systems offer clean transport systems that are technologically modified and friendly to the environment. The transport systems can, therefore, be applied in the various towns and cities that are developing towards achieving the smart city concept.