Nov 27, 2024
HanseCom Forum 2024: The Mobility Sector Is a Driving Force behind the Mobility Transition
Hamburg, Germany – Industry experts gathered at the HanseCom Forum 2024 in Hamburg to explore the question of how to make the mobility transition happen. This year’s forum focused on providing an international platform for exchanging ideas.
The 10th HanseCom Forum was held on 21 and 22 November 2024. Around 200 decision-makers from the mobility industry gathered in Hamburg to participate in the high-profile public transport industry conference. Renowned experts provided insights into their strategies and projects and discussed new mobility concepts, trends and technologies.
On the occasion of its 10th anniversary, the HanseCom Forum catered to an international audience for the first time. This year’s speakers and participants were not exclusively from the DACH region, but included mobility industry experts from across the globe. To ensure smooth communication, the event featured simultaneous translation in German and English.
The mobility transition was the central theme of the event, so questions such as How can it be fostered? What are the success factors of shared mobility? How can people be persuaded to use sustainable means of transportation? were at the center of attention. The following approaches, findings and solutions were discussed:
1. Everyone has to join in. The mobility transition requires far-reaching changes in infrastructure, society and behavioral patterns. This will require perseverance and a great deal of effort from all parties involved. In addition to the public transport industry itself, this must also include passengers, politicians and companies. The mobility transition can only succeed if everyone participates.
2. Communication is key. Communication is a crucial tool to get people passionate about sustainable mobility. Using a consistent, creative and target group-centric approach, mobility service providers and politicians can inform and motivate people, thus promoting the acceptance and use of sustainable means of transportation.
3. Doing away with company cars. Corporate mobility management also plays a central role in making the mobility transition succeed. It allows companies to control the mobility behavior of their employees and create sustainable mobility structures. Public transport can support this effort by offering digital services. Job ticket solutions pave the way for companies to launch their corporate mobility management scheme.
4. Focus on customers becomes reality. Public transport is not an end in itself – it is a service for the people. Transit agencies are increasingly embracing this credo by consistently placing the needs of their customers at the heart of their strategy, organization and operations.
5. Account-based ticketing offers easy access to shared mobility. Account-based ticketing is a convenient aid for passengers when it comes to buying tickets without the need to understand fare systems. A user account takes care of billing trips automatically, based on the best price. This makes account-based ticketing an excellent complement to traditional ticketing, especially for tourists and occasional users. Account-based ticketing has long been a successful model internationally, and recently cities and regions in Germany have started to join in and launch corresponding pilot projects.
The speakers at the HanseCom Forum included representatives of Berlin’s public transport company, the Transport Department of Cascais in Portugal, the Karlsruher Verkehrsverbund, the LATS transit agency (USA), Bahnen Monheim, Nottingham City Transport, Verkehrsverbund Großraum Nürnberg, Wiener Linien and the Trans-Consult consulting agency from Hong Kong. A high-profile panel of public transport representatives also debated current trends and challenges in the mobility industry under the moderation of Ulrich Sieg, former COO of Hamburger Hochbahn and Chairman of the HanseCom Advisory Board.
“The public transport industry showed a lot of optimism and presented many great ideas at our event,” says HanseCom Managing Director Sebastian Neil Hölken. “Despite major financial and political uncertainties, the industry is highly motivated, energetic and innovative in its pursuit of the mobility transition. The forum provided a platform for sharing inspiring by ideas and best practices from all over the world.”
