A carless future may be closer than you think.
FINLAND IS MOVING to make private cars obsolete within 10 years. While there are no plans to ban motor cars, ambitious plans are under way to link car sharing and public transport systems to make Helsinki the world’s greenest city.
Authorities are developing an app to plan and pay for any journey using a range of buses, ferries, bikes, trains and shared cars. The system is intended to be in place by 2025.
Helsinki has already developed a flexible bus system that allows passengers to request specific pick-up and drop-off at locations and times of their own choosing.
Research has shown that young Finns are not as interested in owning their own cars as previous generations (only 40 percent have a driving licence) and are more inclined to find alternative transport options using the internet. Using this as a starting point, Finnish authorities believe the logical next step is to create a unified network of transport options with the ultimate goal of making the privately owned motor car redundant.
Helsinki will run a trial project in one district of the city where all transport options will be able to be searched and booked using a smartphone.