EXPANDINGINNOVATION HORIZONSLEARNING FROM TRANSPORT SOLUTIONS IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Expanding innovation horizons

5

Leading the way: How governments in the Global South foster innovation

6

Notes from the field: Bambang Susantono

7

Questions for policy makers

7

Opening the skies: How Africa’s first drone corridor enables innovation in aviation

8

Transport’s electric future: How China’s coordinated policy approach creates green growth10

Embracing the informal: How to modernise transport networks

12

Notes from the field: Fabio Duarte

13

Questions for policy makers

13

GTFS for the Rest of Us: How encoding Nairobi’s informal transit could help transform global
transport services

14

First-class jitney service: How an app-based mobility company in Mexico City provides better
quality for users of informal transit

16

Revisiting global practices: How to inspire a new mobility culture

18

Notes from the field: Melinda Hanson

19

Questions for policy makers

19

Pony Express revisited: How relay truck service in India reconciles resource optimisation, fastdelivery and driver well-being

20

The rickshaw of tomorrow: How agile mobility provides clean and affordable last-milecommutes in Vietnam, Columbia and France

22

Expanding transport policies: How to be an innovative policy partner

24

Notes from the field: Cezanne Maherali

25

Questions for policy makers

25

Lifestyle on-demand: How Indonesia’s on-demand transport supplier Go-Jek grew intoa full service provider for upwardly mobile urbanites

26

Mobile payment for mobile people: How Ethopian Airlines uses fin-tech to make aviation
more accessible

28
28

Taking knowledge exchange beyond traditional perceptions and boundaries

30

Acknowledgements

31

EXPANDINGINNOVATION HORIZONSInnovation is the process of translating an idea or invention into a good, service or policy thatsocieties will adopt on a large scale. Public authorities play a major role in fostering innovation;
it is not just the realm of garage tinkerers, start-ups and venture capitalists.
Radical, technology-driven innovation is commonly associated with the developed economiesof the Global North. The Global South is usually seen as the home of frugal innovation, where
solutions are created under resource constraints and are designed to be affordable for many.
This report challenges such notions. It highlights transport solutions emanating from the
Global South and discusses benefits and challenges of implementing them in the Global North.
It puts aside the assumption that innovation flows from North to South only and asks what
transferability really means.
Examples of successful innovations in the Global South with potential to spread internationallyand make an impact in rich countries range from the health care sector to the mobile phoneindustry. This report shows the transport sector also stands to benefit from practices in the
Global South.
The term Global South in this report refers to low- and middle-income countries in Asia, Africa,
Latin America and the Caribbean. It is used interchangeably with “developing and emerging
economies”. Thus, the Global South includes countries north of the equator, while the Global
North extends beyond the high-income countries of North America and Europe. As putative
boundaries between the two regions blur the potential for south-to-north and south-to-southtransfer increases.
Globally transport policy makers strive to achieve the same goals: to provide efficient,sustainable, safe and equitable transport systems that are tailored to local socio-economic
cultures. This report focuses on innovations in public transport, shared mobility services andother ideas that increase the connectivity and accessibility of transport systems. It addresses
both the transportation of people and goods, featuring case studies from urban mobility to
long-haul logistics and air transport.
The report’s aim is to expand innovation horizons and support transport policy makers in
adopting new transport solutions. It champions the idea that by combining the innovation pushof businesses and civic society with the right policies and incentives governments can generate
growth that will significantly reduce the risks of climate change, while also providing near term
economic, employment and health benefits.
This is the first installment of a two-part report. It introduces readers to the growing influenceof innovations generated in the Global South on the Global North and, by describing
examples and asking questions that policy makers should consider, sets the scene for a morecomprehensive analysis in the second report that will integrate discussions and feedback
generated by this publication. The second report will present findings and recommendations
for policy makers and serve as input for the International Transport Forum’s summit on“Innovation for Sustainable Development” in May 2020.

4

5

LEADING THE WAY
HOW GOVERNMENTS IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH
FOSTER INNOVATION
The public often sees private entrepreneurs as the driving force behindinnovation. Yet governments are frequently the hidden powerhouse that allows
the ideas of these entrepreneurs to thrive. Governments at different local,
regional and national levels are providing the enabling framework which allows
for competition, treats new entrants fairly and supports market disruption. By
introducing climate-related criteria to public procurement decisions, for instance,
governments can shape lead markets such as transport in which innovative
industries and new business models can emerge that support sustainableeconomic growth.
Education and Research & Development are fields that are particularly important
for the innovation economy of a country, and which are critically impacted bypublic policy. In China, for instance, the tremendous uptake of electric mobility
was made possible by a virtuous feedback loop between research institutes, publicauthorities, and industry. In India, the city of Bangalore became the country’s firstinnovation hub thanks to top-ranked universities that train skilled and imaginativeknowledge workers. All over the world, start-up incubators have mushroomed
thanks to government support. The Global South is often at the forefront of thesedevelopments, exemplified by the emerging tech clusters in many Asian cities or
the rise of Kenya’s “Silicon Savannah” in Africa.
Behind such government activity lies the shared belief that the state remains a
relevant player in the globalised economy. Its role in financing ground-breaking
inventions and supporting their translation into marketable innovations is again
being acknowledged by economists in the Global South and the Global North alike.
In The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs. Private Sector Myths, Mariana
Mazzucato, professor for the economics of innovation at University College
London, insists: “It was the visible hand of the State which made these innovations
happen…This requires understanding the State as neither a ‘meddler’ nor a simple‘facilitator’ of economic growth. It is a key partner of the private sector – andoften a more daring one, willing to take the risks that business won’t.”
Mazzucato builds her case on various examples from the United States but
also includes cases from emerging economies, such as China and Brazil. Theirability to invest confidently and take on risks in fields hampered by high levelsof uncertainty, which usually scare off private banks and venture capitalists, may
come as a surprise to policy makers in the Global North.
The two case studies in this section illustrate how governments foster transportinnovation. The first showcases Malawi’s implementation of the first-of-itskind drone testing corridor. The second discusses China’s decisive turn towards
electric mobility.

6

NOTES FROM THE FIELD

Bambang Susantono
is Vice-President for Knowledge
Management and Sustainable Developmentof the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Prior to this, he was the Acting Minister andVice‑Minister of Transportation of Indonesia.

Transport is changing. How people orgoods move is different today than
40 years ago. It will be very different
again 40 years hence. In this dynamic,
governments of the Global South can be
the leaders of change.
Developing countries can break the mouldof traditional transport. Not locked into
historical legacies, they enjoy the freedom
to embrace innovation. The Global Southpioneered transport advances such as
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). My home city ofJakarta was one of the first Asian cities toimplement a full-service BRT system andleapfrogged public transport services thattook decades to evolve in Europe andNorth America. ADB’s focus on livable cities
will see around USD 4 billion invested inmodern urban transport systems over the
next four years.
The booming demand for personal mobility

is partially met by burgeoning local
manufacturers of 2-, 3- and 4-wheelers.
The Asian car industry is less wedded
to internal combustion engines, hence
the region now has the largest shareof e-vehicles worldwide. The ADB is
supporting countries across the region in
the transition to electric mobility.
Big data will profoundly impact transportsystems. As Asia implements systems to
manage urban transport and road and rail
networks, the use of big data, mobile apps
and user interfaces will allow information
sharing and efficient operations wellbeyond conventional systems. We alreadysee this with integrated travel apps thatcombine payment and information withmany other services.
The future of transport is in the Global
South’s hands. The ADB will help it torealise that future.

QUESTIONS FOR POLICY MAKERS• How can economic growth be aligned with creating a sustainable transportsystem for all?
• At what governmental level should policies fostering innovation be
implemented to maximise impact?

7

As drones are deployed on an increasingly
larger scale, a fully functional Unmanned Traffic
Management (UTM) system will be needed for
Malawi’s drone corridor to prevent collisions withmanned aircraft, something akin to the Global
North’s needs in congested airspaces. Insightsfrom Malawi’s UTM will be shared with global
policy makers.
Among the most important lessons from theMalawi drone testing is the authorities’ successin raising awareness about the potential benefitsof drones among affected communities andcreating wide public acceptance. In the Kasungu
area alone, about 34 000 people learned about
drones. Of those, 46% were children. The Malawi
public outreach campaign can inform global policy
makers on how to engage with civic society andovercome initial apprehensions about safety andprivacy and convey the relevance of drone transport.

CASE STUDYOPENING THE SKIESHOW AFRICA’S FIRST DRONE CORRIDOR ENABLES INNOVATION
IN AVIATIONIn October 2016, Malawi’s Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) signed an agreement with
Unicef establishing a zone for testing drones. The “drone corridor” covers a 40-kilometre
perimeter around Kasungu Aerodrome in central Malawi. Maximum altitude for drone
flights is set at 500 metres. Seven entities were vetted to operate drones in the corridor.
They are companies, universities and non-profits that joined the trial program for free
under the condition that they share their findings with a stakeholder task force that
includes the DCA, representatives of the various governmental sectors and the media.
The drone corridor has been a great success and Malawi authorities are currently
planning to extend its operation period.
What is the innovation aspect?
The drone corridor is a testing ground for theapplication of drone technology for transportuses, imagery, and data transmission. It has
become a hub for developing partnerships thatcombine the various specialties of the different
stakeholders. One collaborative effort, forinstance, resulted in the first long-distance flightof a drone charged with two separate tasks:
delivering medical supplies to remote areas andmapping road quality, flooding and housing
density. All findings on drone use that come fromthe trial program are shared with the Malawi
authorities, providing policy makers with cutting-

8

LEARN MORE
International Transport Forum, (Un)certain Skies?
Drones in the World of Tomorrow, 2018
Unicef Malawi, Drone Testing Corridor in Malawi:
Exploring How Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)
Can Be Tools for Development and Humanitarian
Programming, 2018

What do policy makers need to know?
The Malawi drone corridor specifically addresses
the issues policy makers face when engaging
with the emerging private drone sector and thegeneral public. Current regulation of drones isoften restrictive. It hampers new developments
and lags behind technological advances,causing reluctance among potential adopters.
To integrate drones into the overall transportsystem in a smooth way and ensure the public’s
acceptance, governments must stay apprisedof the rapidly developing concepts for drone
designs and services and integrate them in theoverall transport system.

edge insights that allow them to keep pace with
fast-changing drone technology.
What are the benefits? What challenges exist?
The current approach to drone technology in the
Global North is very different from that employedin Malawi. In most developed economies,
separate entities define specific use cases andact as competitors in implementing them. The
sharing culture at the core of Malawi’s drone
corridor set-up, on the other hand, allows all
actors to learn from the tests and their findings
and also share them with the general public, thus
creating an innovation-friendly ecosystem.

9

CASE STUDY

TRANSPORT’S ELECTRIC FUTURE
HOW CHINA’S CO‑ORDINATED POLICY APPROACH CREATESGREEN GROWTHElectric mobility refers to the use of low- or zero-emission vehicles as opposed tofuel-powered vehicles. Technological progress is making electric vehicles (EV) more
affordable worldwide and global e-vehicle sales reflect that trend: in 2017, they rose
56% compared to the previous year. China is today the world’s leading e-vehicle user.
Nearly 99% of all electric buses and two-wheelers in the world are currently operatingon Chinese streets and roads, as are 40% of all private electric cars.
What is the innovation aspect?
The major innovation that made China’s movetowards e-vehicles possible has been theregulatory push by the Chinese government.
It strongly encourages the use of e-vehicles
in order to make its transport sector lessdependent on oil, to bring down air pollution,
reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and develop
its national electric vehicle industry into a world
market leader. China has launched a series of
incentives that target all mobility actors acrossall modes of transport. Going beyond sale andproduction subsidies, the Chinese authorities
are moving towards quotas with the 2018
“New Energy Vehicle mandate” policy as well
as non-monetary incentives such as simplified
registration procedures for EVs.

10

As part of its “Public Transportation First” policy, inplace since 2008, China is specifically pioneering
the shift towards electric public transport. By
focusing on Research & Development andtailoring subsidies to reduce risk for bus operators,
Chinese authorities have been able to encouragea massive switch to electric buses.
What are the benefits? What challenges exist?
Transport is responsible for around 23% ofenergy-related greenhouse gas emissions.
The benefits of switching to electric mobility,
then, are obvious, particularly when electricity
is generated by sustainable means. Moreover,
China’s co‑ordinated approach illustrates how,with the right policies and incentives in place,governments can generate industry growth

while successfully tackling other policy priorities,
such as providing sustainable, affordable andaccessible transport.
What do policy makers need to know?
China’s large-fleet pilot programmes forelectrifying transport benefit from a virtuous
circle between research, industry and policies
that are aligned across local, regional and national
levels. Today, China is also experimenting withcreative tools in its shift away from subsidies andtowards standards, non-monetary incentives andattractive contract conditions for fleet operators.
The projected worldwide move toward electric
mobility raises questions that go beyond
mitigating climate change. They include aspects
of industrial policy, such as who will be theleading manufacturer of e-vehicles in the future.

LEARN MORE
International Energy Agency, Global EV Outlook
2018: Towards Cross-Modal Electrification, 2018
Mariana Mazzucato, The Entrepreneurial State:
Debunking Public vs. Private Sector Myths, 2013
OECD, Investing in Climate, Investing in
Growth, 2017

11

EMBRACING THE INFORMALHOW TO MODERNISE TRANSPORT NETWORKS
Public transport in the Global South is often characterised by the co-existenceof formal and informal systems. Informal transit is neither regulated by publicauthorities, nor managed by licensed operators, nor planned as part of an
integrated transit system. The term “paratransit” has been used to capture thediversity of practices that blur the line between the formal and informal sectors.
Paratransit typically consists of a large number of private operators managing
small fleets of buses, vans and lighter vehicles.
To the outsider, paratransit may seem chaotic and backward. Its on-demand stops,
undefined schedules, flexible routes and fares are not easily understandable tothe uninitiated. Yet paratransit obeys the rules of a demand-responsive system toensure sustainability and profitability: the informal stops are known to local users
and most buses follow regular routes – that is, unless a road becomes extremely
congested and passengers agree to ad-hoc itinerary changes.
Paratransit provides an essential service, but it should not be romanticised. It
suffers from many shortcomings and the lack of information makes it difficult touse. Coverage is often patchy and reliability issues persist. Since little regulationis enforced, paratransit is often less safe and more polluting than formaltransport. In Manila in the Philippines, for instance, operators tend to concentrate
their service on the main axes to maximise profits while the rest of the city isunderserved.
Current paratransit systems thus leave room for improvement. But publicauthorities should recognise the role paratransit can play when upgradingtransport networks. Also, ignoring semi-formal actors and their interests often
results in failure. Mexico City’s implementation of a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)system, for instance, was successful in large part thanks to mutually advantageous
negotiations between city officials and paratransit providers.
The new digital solutions that are changing mobility can also mitigate paratransit’s
flaws. This transformation starts with acquiring adequate knowledge of these
networks. Encoding paratransit systems into an established transport data syntax,
such as General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS), makes it easier for commuters
to catch the best ride. It also allows transit planners to better understand userneeds and operators to offer new routes.
Other solutions aim to upgrade these systems. Mexico City‘s van-sharing
service Jetty incentivises operators to provide a safe and comfortable service
while helping them to optimise their routes and increase their profits. By further
blurring the line between formal and informal transport, the solutions presented
in the following case studies could facilitate a future formalisation. At the sametime they could stimulate nimble, smaller-scale community- and demand-basedtransport options in the Global North.

12

NOTES FROM THE FIELD

Fábio Duarte
is a Professor of Urban Planning at Pontifícia
Universidade Católica do Paraná in Curitiba,
Brazil, a research scientist at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, and author of
Unplugging the City (Routledge, 2017).

“Shared mobility is everywhere when I
travel cities as a global researcher. I taketaxis in Brasília, hold on tight to ojek
motorcycles in Jakarta, or figure out how
to reach my destinations with matatus in
Nairobi and marshrutkas in Moscow.

and increases the sense of safety among
passengers and drivers. Secondly, rating
schemes that auto-regulate who is allowed
into the system create a direct relationshipbetween drivers and passengers and thus
a mutual sense of trust.

These cities taught me that thinking ofshared mobility as a novelty is a narrow
view held in the Global North. It negates
how countries with few cars and bad
public transport are creatively coping withthe lack of options.

Finally, demand-based routing and pricing
structures create more flexible markets.
They extend options for users by matching
drivers and passengers in different areas
and at different times.

This informal mobility operates at thefringe of legality and remains almost
invisible to the uninitiated. Digitalisation
has changed this and disrupted mobility inboth developed and developing countries.
Firstly, geo-localisation of vehicles inreal time helps users to better plan trips

As a researcher with practical experiencein planning and transport in the Global
South, I focus on how to transfer lessons
from app-based mobility to public
transport and find ways to balance nimble
private transport options with better masstransport tailored to the mobility cultureof each city.

QUESTIONS FOR POLICY MAKERS• What policy framework must be established to ensure that digitalisation isadapted to serve specific local mobility needs?
• Which regulatory environment will ensure that existing mobility services andnew market entrants are treated equally?
• Is competitive pricing of app-based transport modes enough to persuadecommuters to use shared services?

13

The Kenyan experience has highlighted theneed to make data formats more adaptable todemand-responsive transit. For instance, thedata field “continuous stops” was added to GTFS
to indicate whether it is possible to board or exit
at any point along the route. This inspired thedevelopment of the GTFS-flex extension, which
gained relevance not only in cities of developing
countries but also in rural areas of the Global
North, where demand-responsive transit options
are increasingly offered. It has also paved the way
to include dockless bicycle and micromobility
services in GTFS data.

CASE STUDYGTFS FOR THE REST OF US
HOW ENCODING NAIROBI’S INFORMAL TRANSIT COULD HELP
TRANSFORM GLOBAL TRANSPORT SERVICESLEARN MORE
Sarah Williams and others, The Digital Matatu
Project: Using Cell Phones to Create an Open
Source Data for Nairobi’s Semi-Formal Bus
System, 2015
Transport for Cairo and Takween Integrated
Community Development, How Can Transit
Mapping Contribute to Achieving Adequate Urban
Mobility, 2017

What do policy makers need to know?
Mapping semi-formal routes provides acomprehensive picture of the whole transport
network. It identifies geographical or social
equity gaps in accessibility, allowing cities to plana more efficient system with better coverage andtrip durations for all. With GTFS-flex data, transit
is encoded as a flexible process and can become
increasingly so. Finally, modern transit concepts,
e.g. Mobility as a Service (MaaS), require a highquality digitally encoded “mirror” of all mobility
modes and user behaviours. GTFS provides ameans of mapping that.

General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) is a global standard for sharing transit
information. GTFS was originally developed to encode the fixed schedules and stopsof Western formal transport networks. However, transit systems in most Global Southeconomies are based on semi-formal solutions. GTFS for the Rest of Us is an initiativethat brings together actors who seek to encode semi-formal transit within GTFS
language and uses.
What is the innovation aspect?
One of the first attempts to address the lack of
GTFS data on semi-formal transit was conductedin Nairobi in 2012-13 with matatus, the informal
busses serving the Kenyan capital. The Digital
Matatus initiative (DM), used mobile phones andGPS technology to collect data on 135 informal
bus routes, including stop names and fares.
This data was then converted into GTFS andvisualised as a comprehensive map of Nairobi’s
non-official transport network. In 2015, the GTFS
data was uploaded to Google and Open Street
maps, making Nairobi’s matatus network the firstparatransit system to be included in mainstream
routing tools. Riders immediately benefited bybeing able to better plan their commutes. Private
operators and Nairobi’s transport planners were14

also able to develop a more adequate matatu
route network and gain insights for a future Bus
Rapid Transit (BRT) system that can complement
informal mobility.
What are the benefits? What challenges exist?
DM’s method has already been successfully
replicated in other countries of the Global South.
In Egypt, the start-up Transport for Cairo collected
GTFS data and mapped parts of the semi-formal
bus network in the capital, which was released inits entirety in 2018 and subsequently integrated
into Google Maps. In 2019, the Urban Transport
Resource Center for Latin American and
Caribbean Cities was founded based on learnings
from DM in Africa, showcasing the South-toSouth knowledge exchange.

15

CASE STUDYFIRST-CLASS JITNEY SERVICEHOW AN APP-BASED MOBILITY COMPANY IN MEXICO CITYPROVIDES BETTER QUALITY FOR USERS OF INFORMAL TRANSIT
The majority of citizens in the Mexico City metropolitan area rely on a large network ofsemi-formal buses called jitneys. Every day, jitneys provide 11.5 million passenger trips,
while Mexico City’s Bus Rapid Transit and subway systems carry 1.1 and 4.5 million
passengers respectively. Yet, travel by jitneys suffers from the typical downsides of
non-regulated transport: lacking in safety, comfort and reliability.
Since 2017, Mexican start-up Jetty has been
trying to upgrade the collective transport service
offered by jitneys. Jetty does not own any vehicles
but works in partnership with existing operators.
Jetty incentivises the operators to provide a
dedicated bus fleet tracked in real time, coveredby more comprehensive insurance policies anddriven by a trained and adequately rewarded
workforce. In exchange, Jetty helps its partners
to improve their performance by sharing withthem the data gathered from its app users. It also
brings their partners business. Jetty’s mobile app
enables its users to look for rides and book a seaton upgraded jitney buses.
What is the innovation aspect?
Jetty’s offer reconciles better service withaffordability and efficiency by bridging app-based

16

mobility and collective transport. Increased
safety and reliability significantly improve thejitney user experience. Offering more directroutes and higher capacities, Jetty’s app-based
jitney booking ensures a higher degree of
efficiency compared to ad-hoc ride-sourcing.
Continuous monitoring of itineraries, schedules,
and pick-up points further helps to optimise theservice; as does the collection of user data, which
also enables Jetty to increase partner-operators’
revenue.
What are the benefits? What challenges exist?
Jetty provides a low-cost solution to upgradingtransit that requires limited investment andoperational subsidies. This could be very
appealing to countries and cities with tighttransport budgets. Since Jetty’s initiative helps

slow the shift toward private cars, its experience
is relevant in global cities struggling with severecongestion. Jetty’s current expansion in Mexico
City illustrates the program’s easy scalability
and could be quickly replicated in or adapted
to other cities. Ultimately, Jetty provides theright context‑adapted incentives to improvetransit quality. In cities where transit operation
is privatised, it will be crucial that regulators
establish locally-appropriate incentives in theirdialogue with operators.
What do policy makers need to know?
Mexico City’s experience with improving theservice quality of jitneys provides two main
lessons for policy makers. Firstly, incremental
service upgrades through technology-induced
innovation can reshape the transit system in a
way that serves the common good, but only if
policy avoids stifling innovation through obsolete
regulation. Secondly, sharing data among
different mobility stakeholders can help address
urban congestion and pollution by providing
higher-quality transit services at prices that are
above standard transit fares, but significantly
below conventional ride-sourcing offers.

LEARN MORE
Onésimo Flores Dewey, App-Based Collective
Transport Service in Mexico City: A Start-Up Case
Study, 2019
Fabio Duarte and Rodrigo Jose Firmino,
Unplugging the City: The Urban Phenomenon and
Its Sociotechnical Controversies, 201717

REVISITING GLOBAL PRACTICESHOW TO INSPIRE A NEW MOBILITY CULTURE
Innovation is born out of need. Transport solutions are most often createdin response to the specific needs of people in a specific place. With careful
adaptation, they can often be successfully transplanted. Sometimes however,innovation is best achieved by simply looking at a familiar practice in a new light.
Transport practices are socio-cultural customs associated with the way people
move in a given context. Reliance on two- and three-wheelers, for instance,
is a distinctive trait of Southeast Asian transport heritage. Such practices
are accepted and reproduced by commuters on a daily basis. Even whentransformed by new technologies or business models, they retain a local flavourand continue to be adhered to by the population in the Global South. In the
Global North they have sometimes been forgotten but can be (re-)adopted
quickly and on a large scale.
The electrification of two- and three-wheelers, for instance, will have asignificant impact in countries where these vehicles represent a large share of
the total fleet. Two- and three-wheelers are small, lightweight and affordable
and able to cover shorter-distance transport needs. In the Global North, withadded technological features and upgraded designs, two-and three-wheelers
may also contribute to the (re-)introduction of agile mobility options for urban
first- and last-mile transport and stimulate a new micromobility culture.
Similarly, the cost-effective introduction of a pan-Indian relay truck service(modeled on the famous mid-19th century Pony Express in the United States,
which linked Missouri and California via a system of relay riders on horseback) is
only possible by employing a digital platform that integrates vehicle telematics,
driver preferences, relay station status and client requests. Thus such upgrades
to traditional transport practices can answer pressing on-the-ground needs – inthese instances the widespread shortage of long-haul drivers and the need formore sustainable options for short-distance trips.
These solutions are also innovative in a more classical definition of the term,since they increase productivity. Shortening the duration of a truck trip orproviding a last-mile solution where mobility options are scarce enhancestransport efficiency. In the case of two- and three-wheelers, reduced energy
consumption and more efficient use of available road capacity must also betaken into account.
The following two case studies illustrate how long-standing socio-cultural
mobility practices in India and in the larger region of Southeast Asia have beenrevisited to produce more efficient transport solutions while promoting driverwell-being, passenger comfort and sustainable first- and last-mile options.

18

NOTES FROM THE FIELD

Melinda Hanson
heads sustainability at Bird, the sharede-scooter company. She has worked forsustainable transport for over a decade,including at National Association of City
Transportation Officials, Asian Development
Bank and the ClimateWorks Foundation.

Transport in the Global North is starting tolook more like that of cities in the Global
South. What’s changed? Urban transport
has started to go small.
For decades, the automobile has dominatedstreets in the United States. Here, morethan 75% of commuters travel to and fromwork by car, alone; just 5% commute by
public transport, and less than one percent
by bicycle.
Mode share is remarkably different inlow- and middle-income countries. While
working on transport projects in thePhilippines and Ethiopia, I saw that what issometimes perceived as a chaotic system
made up of multiple shared modes could
actually add up to be a much more efficient
way to get around.
Dockless e-scooters hit US streets in 2017,
and they have become extremely popular.

In the first year, shared e-scooter ridershipin the United States surpassed bikeshare,
replacing car trips about one-third of thetime. Suddenly, we are seeing travelers inDenver and Baltimore opt for these small
electric vehicles for reasons similar to why
people take rickshaws in Delhi or mototaxis in Bangkok: they are convenient,
inexpensive, and get you where you needto go.
Reinvented in Santa Monica, California,
but with roots in the Global South,
micromobility is a big idea that has thepotential to remake urban transport.
That is great news for our cities, andI look forward to continued exchanges
with international colleagues as wework to fight climate change andbring affordable, shared, and electric
micromobility
tocitiesaroundthe world.

QUESTIONS FOR POLICY MAKERS• What incentives might be put in place to encourage the upgrade of traditionaltransport modes and ensure customer adhesion in existing markets or(re-)adoption in the Global North?
• How can cities harness knowledge about marginalised transport models of thepast to tackle current challenges in the transport system?

19

exponentially. Leading logistics companies fromthe Global North have recognised the potentialof the relay truck system. Amazon is using Rivigo
to deliver its products and DHL is considering asimilar approach for the Indian market.
The Global North also suffers from a severe
shortage of truck drivers. The gap between
available supply of drivers and demand fromhaulers is projected to reach 0.8 million in Europe
and the United States combined by 2030. The
relay truck service could offer a way to address
the issue by making the driver profession more
attractive, for instance for women. A network ofrelay stations would be especially suited to areas
like the European Union and the United States
where freight transport over long distances falls
under common regulation and trade is free.

CASE STUDYPONY EXPRESS REVISITED
HOW A RELAY TRUCK SERVICE IN INDIA RECONCILES RESOURCEOPTIMISATION, FAST DELIVERY AND DRIVER WELL-BEING
The recent introduction of relay trucks in India has changed the way the country’s
logistics industry operates. Since 2014, Rivigo, a start-up based in Gurgaon near Delhi,
has established a network of 70 relay stations for trucks across the country, enabling a
pan-Indian service.
In this new approach, a single shipment istransported not by one, but by several drivers.
The first driver picks up the freight at its homestation and drives it to the next relay station.
There, the driver liaises with a second driver,
who has stopped at the same station with ashipment going in the opposite direction. The
two exchange trucks and each continues tothe next station on the route to the shipments’
final destination. The relay continues until the
shipment is delivered.
Rivigo uses sensor-equipped trucks and Big
Data analytics to co-ordinate this “logisticalballet”. The individual drivers only makeround‑trips from their home base. In this way,
they complete the same amount of kilometresas in a non-relay system, but they can go home
after their working day and stay with theirfamilies overnight.

20

What is the innovation aspect?
Rivigo’s trucks are permanently on the road andessentially never stop moving. Trip durations
are thus drastically shortened. A journeyfrom Bangalore to Delhi takes 96 hours withconventional methods, but only 44 hours withthe relay truck system. On average, Rivigo’s
turnaround times are 50% to 70% shorter thantransport by traditional trucking methods.
The relay system also significantly improves
working and living conditions for truck drivers.
Driving approximately 800 kilometres back andforth to their home stations, 92% of Rivigo’s drivers
are able to return home every night of the week.

LEARN MORE
Rivigo, Not the 37th Caste: Stories of the Men and
Their Families Who Drive Our Country, 2017
The Economist, Rivigo is Helping the Indian
Truck‑Driving Industry Out of a Jam,
Vol. 424/9060, 2017

What do policy makers need to know?
The relay truck system, based on a historictransport practice, is an innovation that is
disrupting India’s logistics industry. Relay trucking
addresses a number of issues that many countries
face in similar ways, such as working conditions,driver shortages and the need for more efficientfreight transport.
Rivigo is a reminder that innovation in the transport
sector is sometimes built on contradictory
concepts. Central to the company’s strategy is fullownership of its trucks and infrastructures, which
stands in stark contrast to the Uber pioneered
innovation paradigm that sheds any ownershipof physical infrastructure and focuses solely on
providing a digital service. Some global logistics
companies are developing Uber-like platforms
to link truck drivers with cargo shippers. Thisapproach may respond to some needs, but it is
not likely to solve the critical problem of current
and future driver shortages.

What are the benefits? What challenges exist?
India faces an estimated shortage of one million
truck drivers. Rivigo currently employs 4 000
drivers and the size of its workforce is growing

21

chaotic and dangerous traffic, and obvious safetyissues must be addressed wherever they operate.
In Kigali, Rwanda, for example, the ride‑sourcing
company Safemoto uses telematics devices totrack driver behavior and adapted incentives toensure safe operation of its two-wheeler fleet.
Some entrepreneurs are seizing the opportunity:
they enhance mobility in cities of the developed
world with light vehicles. Electric two- andthree‑wheelers, like Paris’s free floating taxi‑motos
and London’s e-trikes, have rapidly become a partof these cities’ transport ecosystems, pushinginto markets that conventional taxi services,high‑priced and limited by heavy regulation, havenot covered. And additional possibilities lie on thehorizon. E-trikes could easily evolve from a tourist
attraction to providers of regular last-mile services.
Three-wheelers can even be transformed into
self-driving vehicles for autonomous deliveries, as
demonstrated by MIT Media Lab in Chinese Taipei.

LEARN MORE
Adele Peters, Can This New Electric Rickshaw Stop
Cars From Taking Over Asian Cities?, 2018
Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit
and United Bank for Africa, Reverse Innovation:
Rethinking Urban Transport Through Global
Learning, 2017

CASE STUDY

THE RICKSHAW OF TOMORROW
HOW AGILE MOBILITY PROVIDES CLEAN AND AFFORDABLELAST‑MILE COMMUTES IN VIETNAM, COLUMBIA AND FRANCE“Agile mobility” describes the use of light vehicles. In the Global South, two- andthree‑wheelers – some pedal-powered, some engine-powered – are widespreadbecause they offer affordable mobility adapted to poorly serviced areas. In Hanoi, thecapital of Vietnam, light vehicles make up 94% of the total fleet; in Kathmandu in Nepal,
their share is 74%. The emerging economies of Asia have the highest density of two‑and three‑wheelers, but other continents are seeing their share of these and otherlight vehicles increase exponentially. In Cartagena in Colombia, a city of one million
inhabitants, the number of two-wheelers grew five-fold between 2008 and 2015, whilethat of private cars only increased by a factor of 1.7.
What is the innovation aspect?
Two- and three-wheelers are not a thing of the past.
Instead they are moving to the forefront of mobility
innovation. Electrification of three‑wheelers
is happening on a massive scale in the Global
South. Around 1.5 million battery‑powered threewheelers operate in India today and around 11 000
new electric tricycles (“e-trikes”) hit the country’s
streets every month. The Pedicab project launchedby the Asian Development Bank in Nepal in 2017seeks to make them an attractive alternative
to the private car by modernising the image ofthree‑wheelers, notably through contemporary
design features, electric propulsion and new22

What do policy makers need to know?
Keeping light vehicles a relevant mobility option asrising incomes translate into more and more cars on
the streets is paramount in the Global South. In the
North, a shift to agile mobility is already underway.
Shared or individually owned micromobility
vehicles and cycling options are massively adopted
in cities as awareness of their ability to provide
clean and convenient last-mile mobility increases.
Supported by innovation‑friendly regulations,two- and three-wheelers can be importantfacilitators of a structural shift towards shared andelectric mobility services.

business models that integrate e-trikes with formal
public transport providers.
What are the benefits? What challenges exist?
More and more, light vehicles in the Global
South are powered by electric engines. They thus
provide mobility that reconciles convenience,
affordability and sustainability. This trend alsopresents a major opportunity for economies in
the Global North. There, two- and three-wheelers
could help bridge the first- and last-mile gap for
public transport users, in addition to improving
air quality and reducing congestion. That said,
two‑and three‑wheelers are often associated with

23

EXPANDING TRANSPORT POLICIESHOW TO BE AN INNOVATIVE POLICY PARTNER
To make informed regulatory decisions, transport policy makers consult widelywith the traditional transport stakeholders that provide the infrastructure andservices for the mobility system. Today they should widen that circle to include a
growing number of players that come from outside the sector.

NOTES FROM THE FIELD

Cezanne Maherali
is the Head of Policy for Uber East Africa,
supporting cities in Kenya, Uganda andTanzania to move towards smart mobility.
She previously worked as an Engagement
Manager with McKinsey & Co.

Much of the discussion in the transport sector over the past decade has centeredon the impacts of technological innovations such as app-based mobility
services, new engine types and automation across all transport modes.
Less analysed, however, are a wide range of new business models that are
emerging outside the sector, which nevertheless rely on on-demand transport.
For many of them moving people or goods is not their core business proposition,
yet they have the market power to shape transport practices. Transport has
become the backbone of the on-demand, platform-based service industry inparticular. In the United States alone, the service industry attracted USD 8.1
billion in spending in 2016.
Services have proliferated for two reasons. Platform-based methods make it easy
to connect supply with demand and market entry costs have fallen drastically:
the handyman, the physiotherapist and the laundry maid are only an app
download away. But they still have to reach the client, and thus the shift to an
on-demand economy that relies heavily on transport.
The growing on-demand service industry is not limited to the Global North; it isequally booming in emerging economies - illustrated by the success of Go-Jek,
an integrated on-demand multiservice platform in Indonesia.
At the same time, technological innovation in telecommunications, banking
and finance are suddenly changing established models for accessing transportand fare collection. Among the most notable developments is mobile payment,
which is reshaping mobility practices in many developing countries. Ethiopian
Airlines offers ticket purchases through mobile payment in six African countries
and in China, for instance. The potential is enormous: the Global South has over
172 million active mobile money accounts that are available to those that may
not have a bank account. Mobile payment and micropayment-enabled mobility
services could enhance access to transport in unprecedented ways and trigger
innovative business models.
Partnering with well-established transport actors remains essential for publicauthorities. But authorities should stay apprised of the variety of unconventional
actors also shaping the future of transport. Acknowledging their role andunderstanding how they benefit from, or challenge, current regulations isimperative for finding adequate regulatory responses to their business ideas.

24

There are over 250 000 boda bodas in
Kampala. These motorcycles used forpassenger transport move millions ofpeople around Uganda’s capital everyday. Over 54% of road crashes involve
boda boda, and less than 4% of drivers
have licenses. This has created one of thebiggest policy challenges for Uber in Africa- but also one of the biggest opportunities
to transform the sector.
A partnership begins by declaring it. Aheadof launching UberBoda, we informed
regulators of our commitment to safety
and our intention to put a fully compliant
product on the road - and that we were
the only player that was doing this.
Getting momentum is hard. Over the
past year we have been sensitising policy
makers about the biggest challenge toscalability: the prohibitive cost of a driving

license. In Uganda it will cost USD 60,
compared to USD 20 in neighbouring
countries. Yet a typical boda driver only
makes USD 5 a day.
So Uber has partnered with local driving
schools to train drivers and guide themthrough the process of acquiring a license.
We are also contributing to upfront costs.
We work with the police to offer roadsafety training, have provided drivers withan extra helmet for the passenger, andhave paid for injury protection insurance
to cover the rider and driver.
We pride ourselves in working toraise standards in the sector. Yet thesustainability of such investments willremain a challenge until policy makers
not only acknowledge the efforts, butalso play their part in creating an enabling
environment for growth.

QUESTIONS FOR POLICY MAKERS• How can regulators identify the unconventional actors who are making an
impact, and in what capacity can they bring them to the discussion?
• How will regulators remain relevant in the radically changing transportlandscape?

25

Go‑Jek’s transactions in Indonesia pass through
Go‑Pay. This volume testifies to the attractivenessof using smart payments in the field of on‑demand
service delivery in the Global South.
On‑demand services from dog walking to house
maintenance also exist in the Global North.
Here, however, they are accessed through afragmented landscape of dedicated apps, such as
Zeel, TaskRabbit, Handy, or Wog. The integrationof personal mobility, delivery and lifestyle services
in one single app pioneered by Go‑Life thus has
the potential to create synergies and significantly
enhance urban transport efficiency not only inother cities and regions of the Global South, but
at least as much in the North.
An important challenge exists, however: in a
scenario where logistics information is not sharedacross public and private players, it could becounterproductive and lead to a huge increase in
the number of trips.

CASE STUDYLIFESTYLE ON DEMAND
HOW INDONESIA’S ON DEMAND TRANSPORT SUPPLIER GO‑JEK GREW
INTO A FULL‑SERVICE PROVIDER FOR UPWARDLY MOBILE URBANITES
Go‑Jek started in 2010 as a call centre for booking motorcycle taxis in Jakarta. Since
then, it has expanded into an on‑demand multi‑service platform. More than 200 000
drivers work for Go‑Jek and its app registered 108 million downloads since 2015.
Go‑Jek operates in 167 cities and districts in Indonesia, as well as in Vietnam, Thailand,
Singapore and the Philippines. Today, the company is valued at more than USD 1 billion,
making Go‑Jek the only Indonesian “unicorn”.
What is the innovation aspect?
Go‑Jek quickly understood the central roletransport plays in all other service markets. Having
started out as a taxi call centre, it has continuallybroadened its services to meet varied andevolving demands. In a first step, Go‑Jek moved
from dispatching taxis to offering a ride‑sourcing
service called Go‑Ride. It then started to deliver
food with its Go‑Food service and convenience
goods via Go‑Mart. Go‑Med offers home delivery
for health products and urban logistics services
are provided by Go‑Send and Go‑Box.
Today, Go‑Jek even integrates a wide range oflifestyle services through its secondary app, Go‑Life.
With just one smartphone application, users canorder services from Go‑Massage, Go‑Clean,
Go‑Auto, Go‑Glam, Go‑Fix and Go‑Laundry, all26

delivered on‑demand to customers’ homes. This
type of service integration in a single app is reshaping
the understanding of app‑based mobility services
globally: rather than non‑transport sector players
using transport providers as service, Go‑Jek has
used its in‑depth understanding of how transport
works as a springboard for expanding beyond its
original business model, in the process flipping
traditional roles on their head by sub‑contracting
non‑transport businesses rather than being
itself sub‑contracted.

LEARN MORECharles Colby and Kelly Bell, The On‑Demand
Economy is Growing, and Not Just for the Youngand Wealthy, 2016
OECD, Services Trade Policies and the Global
Economy, 2017

What do policy makers need to know?
The service industry around the world is
experiencing a major shift towards mobile‑basedon‑demand business models. A growing numberof tech companies claim to be the “Uber forthis” or “Uber of that” by aspiring to connect
demand to supply in some market or niche. One
result is the rise of the “gig economy”, meaning
the reliance on more or less independent
contractors to provide labour and infrastructure.
This represents a regulatory challenge, both in
the Global North and South. It may also offer
opportunities, however: in the Global South, toimprove the welfare of workers in the informal
sector; in the Global North, to create more
flexible job opportunities. Go‑Jek again leads
the way in this respect, by providing health andaccident coverage for its drivers while offering
them highly flexible work arrangements.

What are the benefits? What challenges exist?
Go‑Jek also features a cashless payment systemcalled Go‑Pay. Go‑Pay enables users to pay offline,transfer money and even purchase insurance
or take out micro‑loans with their app. Half of27

CASE STUDY

MOBILE PAYMENT FOR MOBILE PEOPLE
HOW ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES USES FIN-TECH TO MAKE AVIATIONMORE ACCESSIBLE
Mobile payment refers to an electronic commercial transaction conducted throughmobile devices. Mobile payment requires some sort of “e-wallet” function on a smart
phone, which can then be charged with actual money and used to purchase information,
services or goods. Mobile payment uses smart phones to store electronic cash thatcan be spent anywhere and on anything. It goes far beyond electronic cash systems
run by individual supermarket chains or transport companies, with which you can only
buy their products. Africa’s largest aviation company, Ethiopian Airlines, has offered
the possibility to buy tickets through mobile payment in Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda andGhana since 2010. In recent years, this option has become available in Ethiopia andZimbabwe, and a partnership with China’s AliPay has enabled Ethiopian Airlines toreach its Chinese customers in the same way.
What is the innovation aspect?
Mobile payment gives the large section of the
population in the Global South that has no bankaccount improved access to transport services.
In Africa and the Middle East over 61% of the
population is excluded from traditional financial
services – even middle-income earners inthese regions often have no access to them.
Yet these regions are also the main markets
served by Ethiopian Airlines. Mobile phones andcellular subscriptions are ubiquitous in bothregions. Offering mobile payment has made28

air travel accessible to people who can afford
it, but could only pay cash in the few existing
bricks‑and‑mortar travel agencies.
What are the benefits? What challenges exist?
There are over 172 million active mobile money
account owners across the Global South. They
could gain much improved access to air travel
if they were offered mobile payment as an
option. Some European airlines have started toexperiment with mobile payment for in-flight

services after realising that 65% of the 100 million
Chinese tourists travelling abroad every year use
mobile payments.
Mobile payment and micropayment options canbe easily applied to urban public transportation.
Here, they could have an even greater impact,
both in the Global North and South. Mobile
payments for public transport would reduce wait
and travel time for customers. For providers,
it would lower operational costs and the riskof theft, by no longer having to handle cash or
implementing their own proprietary payment
services. The Netherlands are among a few
countries already looking into mobile payment
technology for urban transit systems across thewhole country.

LEARN MOREJames Manyika and others, Digital Finance for
All: Powering Inclusive Growth in Emerging
Economies, 2016
S.K. Cheng, Exploring Mobile Ticketing in Public
Transport: An Analysis of Enablers for Successful
Adoption in The Netherlands, 2017

What do policy makers need to know?
Mobile payment can generate new businessmodels such as the pay-as-you-go model adopted
by many providers in the energy sector. Go-Jek inIndonesia and Didi Chuxing in China have proventhat mobile payment is a major factor for the
success of ride‑sourcing platforms. However, themobile payment ecosystem is dominated by playersthat have no strong links to transport and usuallylack a good understanding of mobility issues.
Mostly, these are banks and telecommunicationcompanies, tech or retail giants such as Facebook
and Apple or Alibaba. Yet their impact on mobility isalready palpable and their role in shaping transport
policy will certainly grow.

29

TAKING KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE
BEYOND TRADITIONALPERCEPTIONS AND BOUNDARIESThe global transport sector is undergoing a comprehensive transformation. Digital technologies, once
considered high-tech innovation of the Global North, are disrupting economies on local, national andinternational scales. In the Global South, however, these innovations have not been blindly adopted.
Rather, they have been reconfigured, remodeled and reshaped into new transport solutions. And theseadaptations are now showing their potential to change mobility in the Global North in turn. Is the
Global North ready?
Policy makers around the world face similar problems. They seek to provide their citizens andeconomies with safe, sustainable and equitable transport solutions. Might looking beyond traditionalsources for inspiration help? Could looking to different places for interesting ideas that have alreadytaken root mitigate a classic risk of early adopters, that of picking the loser over the winner in theinnovation race?
The transport solutions from the Global South examined in this report give rise to a number of importantquestions that transport policy makers in the Global North should consider:• How can economic growth be aligned with creating a sustainable transport system for all?
• At what governmental level should policies fostering innovation be implemented tomaximise impact?
• What policy framework must be established to ensure that digitalisation is adapted to serve
specific local mobility needs?
• Which regulatory environment will ensure that existing mobility services and new market
entrants are treated equally?
• Is competitive pricing of app-based transport modes enough to persuade commuters to use
shared services?
• What incentives might be put in place to encourage the upgrade of traditional transport modes
and ensure customer adhesion in existing markets or (re-)adoption in the Global North?
• How can cities harness knowledge about marginalised transport models of the past to tackle
current challenges in the transport system?
• How can regulators identify the unconventional actors who are making an impact, and inwhat capacity can they bring them to the discussion?
• How will regulators remain relevant in the radically changing transport landscape?
Implementing innovation in the transport sector requires a set of cross-cutting practices andprocesses. The Global North can benefit from investigating innovative solutions that are successful in
the Global South. Similarly, countries in the Global South can further their own initiatives by looking at
what has worked elsewhere and profit from South-to-South learning. Expanding the global discussion
will help to accelerate the delivery of better mobility for all.

30

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The work for this report was carried out in thecontext of a project initiated and funded by theInternational Transport Forum’s (ITF) Corporate
Partnership Board (CPB). CPB projects aredesigned to enrich policy discussion witha business perspective. They are launchedin areas where CPB member companies
identify an emerging issue in transport policyor an innovation challenge to the transportsystem. Led by the ITF, work is carried out
in a collaborative fashion in working groups
consisting of CPB member companies, external
experts and ITF staff.

WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS

Ricardo Alvarez, MIT Senseable City Lab,
United States
Claudia Kiso, Umweltbundesamt, Germany
Ben Brooks, Uber, United States
Takayuki Kusajima, Toyota, Japan
Jean-Baptiste Burtscher, Valeo, France
Barbarba Lenz, German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Philippe Crist, ITF

The report draws on insights from the ITF
CPB Workshop “Transport Innovation in
Emerging Economies: Insights for Global
Transport Authorities and Companies” held on
15-16 October 2018 at Harvard University in
Cambridge, Massachusetts. The workshop was
kindly hosted by Professor Andres Sevtšuk ofthe Harvard Graduate School of Design andKatja Schechtner, Innovation and Technology
Advisor at ITF and Research Fellow at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Sharon Masterson, ITF
Diane Davis, Harvard University, United States
Katy Mytty, MIT D-Lab, United States
Benjamin de la Pena, Seattle Department ofTransportation, United States
Won Park, Incheon International Airport, Korea
Matthew Devlin, Uber, United States
Marc Ribo Pedragosa, Abertis, Spain

The principal authors of this report are Katja
Schechtner, who also managed the project,and Laura Meynier. Special thanks go to Fábio
Duarte (MIT), Melinda Hanson (Bird), Cezanne
Maherali (Uber) and Bambang Susantono (AsianDevelopment Bank) for their testimonies; toHastings Jailosi (Department of Civil Aviationof Malawi), Michael Scheibenreif (Unicef),
Heather Thompson (ITDP), Katy Mytty andSarah Williams (both MIT) for sharing theirinsights in interviews; to Alina Ulrich (Deutsche
Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit,
GIZ) for sharing extended background research;
Asad Jan (Harvard University) for drafting theworkshop summary. Sharon Masterson (ITF)
co-ordinated all related CPB activities; Hilary
Gaboriau and Michael Kloth (ITF) copy-edited
the manuscript and co-ordinated production.
Layout by Renaud Madignier.

Jean-Luc di Paola-Galloni, Valeo, France
Francisca Rojas, Inter-American Development Bank
Gabriele Gerhardter, Kapsch, Austria
Katja Schechtner, ITF and MIT
Jean Grebert, Renault Nissan Mitsubishi
Alliance, France
Stefan Seer, Austrian Institute of Technology
Asad Jan, Harvard University, United States
Andres Sevtšuk, Harvard Graduate School of
Design, United States
Ki Joon Kim, Asian Development Bank
Laurence Ullmann, Michelin, France
Daniel Kim, Incheon International Airport, Korea

31

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ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORT FORUM
The International Transport Forum at the OECD is an intergovernmental organisation with 59
member countries. It acts as a think tank for transport policy and organises the Annual Summit oftransport ministers. ITF is the only global body that covers all transport modes. It is administratively
integrated with the OECD, yet politically autonomous.
ITF works for transport policies that improve peoples’ lives. Our mission is to foster a deeper
understanding of the role of transport in economic growth, environmental sustainability and social
inclusion and to raise the public profile of transport policy.
ITF organises global dialogue for better transport. We act as a platform for discussion andpre‑negotiation of policy issues across all transport modes. We analyse trends, share knowledge
and promote exchange among transport decision makers and civil society. ITF’s Annual Summit is
the world’s largest gathering of transport ministers and the leading global platform for dialogue ontransport policy.
Our member countries are: Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus,
Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China (People’s Republic of), Croatia,
Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary,
Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania,
Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands,
New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia,
Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates,
the United Kingdom and the United States.

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http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2015.10.005.
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Photo credits
cover Renaud Madignier; p. 8 Kristin Palitza/Getty Image; p. 9 Andrew Brown/Unicef Malawi; p. 10 Mars Hartdegen/Flickr; p. 11
GuoZhongHua/Shutterstock; p. 14 Civic Design Data Lab Massachusetts Institute of Technology and C4D Lab Nairobi University;p. 15 Syrus Neilson/Shutterstock; p. 16 Jetty; p. 17 ChameleonsEye/Shutterstock; p. 20 Kulshrestha/Bloomberg/Getty; p. 21
Paul Arps/Flickr; p. 22 Khashing Rai/ADB; p. 23 Filipe.Lopes/Shutterstock; p.26 findracadabra/Shutterstock; p.27 findracadabra/
Shutterstock; p. 28 Denys Prykhodov/Shutterstock; p. 29 Sarine Arslanian/Shutterstock

34

ABOUT THE CORPORATE PARTNERSHIP BOARD
The Corporate Partnership Board (CPB) is the International Transport Forum’s platform forengaging with the private sector and enriching global transport policy discussion with a businessperspective. The members of the ITF Corporate Partnership Board are: Abertis, AB InBev, Alstom,
Aramco, Bird, Bosch, Brisa, ExxonMobil, Incheon International Airport, Kakao Mobility, Kapsch
TrafficCom, Latvian Railways, Michelin, North Adriatic Sea Port Authority, NXP, PTV Group, RATP
Group, The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, SAS, Siemens, SNCF, Total, Toyota, Uber, Valeo,
Volvo Cars, Volvo Group and Waymo.

DISCLAIMER
Funding for this work has been provided by the ITF Corporate Partnership Board. This report ispublished under the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the ITF. It has not been subject tothe scrutiny of ITF or OECD member countries, and does not necessarily reflect their official viewsor those of the members of the Corporate Partnership Board.

INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORT FORUM

2 rue André Pascal
75775 Paris Cedex 16+33 (0)1 73 31 25 00
contact@itf-oecd.org
www.itf-oecd.org

The hot transport innovations come from the Silicon Valley and tech hubs in the Global North?
Innovation is often born out of need. Many creative mobility solutions hatch in the developing
and emerging nations of the Global South. They could inspire transport policy makers around theworld. This report aims to open readers’ eyes to innovative ideas in unexpected places – ideas that
could improve mobility everywhere, for everyone.