Beijing | Partnership for Research on Informal and Shared Mobility

This Living Lab aims to build knowledge on how “shared-mobility, active transport, and public transport”-based MaaS systems can benefit local society, environment, and economy by actively working on the Beijing MaaS green MaaS pilot and exploring its impacts on reducing emissions and equity

About Beijing Living Lab

This Living Lab aims to building knowledge of how the “shared-mobility, active transport, and public transport”-based MaaS system benefit local society, environment, and economy; and showcase Beijing MaaS green MaaS pilot in terms of low-carbon and equitable MaaS solutions.

The Main Activities in this Lab include:

1) Knowledge Building: 1.1) Impact assessment research: Establish the indicators and evaluate the costs/benefits of informal and shared mobility (e.g., bike sharing) and relevant policies from Chinese cities. The impact assessment will cover the indicators of social (e.g., equity, physical and mental health through active transport, accessibility, safety), environmental (e.g., carbon reduction, air quality, climate resilience), and economic (e.g., financial sustainability of the shared mobility system, job and economy accessibility, level of service) aspects. 1.2) Policy and governance comparative analysis: Provide in-depth case studies (e.g., Beijing) of shared mobility in Chinese cities for comparative analysis, particularly in terms of policy, regulation and governance for bike sharing and other modes of informal shared mobility. For example, how to do fleet control (to avoid over-supply), parking management (to avoid parking chaos and road safety), infrastructure and technology improvement, pricing, etc. And what are the effect of all these policies (so many interesting cases and story in different Chinese cities). 1.3) Biennial shared mobilities review: Working with NCUT/China, we will biennially review the shared mobilities status, challenges, development, and research in China. The review engages writers from academy, industry, and government. The current Bluebook of Shared Mobility Development in China (2022-2023) published in 2023, next one will be in 2025.

2) Community of Learning: 2.1) Mobility-as-a Service (MaaS) practices and research (Beijing case): case study of Beijing green-MaaS practice (e.g., how to well integrate PT with shared mobility, how to encourage riders shift to shared modes and PT from private cars, how to calculate individual carbon mitigation and trade carbon credit to subsidize PT and shared mobility users, and what are the health and environmental benefits of MaaS). 2.2) MaaS Seminar/Webinars on the platform of Living Lab, MaaS Alliance in Europe, VREF, and WRI global networks for knowledge sharing and case comparison among different stakeholders in LMICs.

3) Next Generation Scholars: Engage PhD and Master candidates as WRI’s interns, engaged in the MaaS studies, the impact assessment research, and knowledge building.

Beijing, also known as Peking, is the capital of China. With about 22 million residents, Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city as well as China's second largest city after Shanghai. It is located in Northern China, and is governed as a municipality under the direct administration of the State Council with 16 urban, suburban, and rural districts. Beijing is mostly surrounded by Hebei Province with the exception of neighboring Tianjin to the southeast; together, the three divisions form the Jingjinji megalopolis and the national capital region of China.

Beijing has long been well known for the number of bicycles on its streets. Although the rise of motor traffic has created a great deal of congestion and bicycle use has declined, bicycles are still an important form of local transportation. Many cyclists can be seen on most roads in the city, and most of the main roads have dedicated bicycle lanes. Beijing is relatively flat, which makes cycling convenient. The rise of electric bicycles and electric scooters, which have similar speeds and use the same cycle lanes, may have brought about a revival in bicycle-speed two-wheeled transport. It is possible to cycle to most parts of the city. Because of the growing traffic congestion, the authorities have indicated to encourage cycling. Cycling has seen a resurgence in popularity spurred by the emergence of a large number of dockless app based bikeshares such as Meituan, Didi Chuxing, and HelloBike.

1) Impact assessment research: Establish the indicators and evaluate the costs/benefits of informal and shared mobility (e.g., bike sharing) and relevant policies from Chinese cities. The impact assessment will cover the indicators of social (e.g., equity, physical and mental health through active transport, accessibility, safety), environmental (e.g., carbon reduction, air quality, climate resilience), and economic (e.g., financial sustainability of the shared mobility system, job and economy accessibility, level of service) aspects.

2) Policy and governance comparative analysis: Provide in-depth case studies (e.g., Beijing) of shared mobility in Chinese cities for comparative analysis, particularly in terms of policy, regulation and governance for bike sharing and other modes of informal shared mobility. And what are the effect of all these policies (so many interesting cases and story in different Chinese cities).

3) Biennial shared mobilities review: Working with NCUT/China, we will biennially review the shared mobilities status, challenges, development, and research in China. The review engages writers from academy, industry, and government.

North China University of Technology
Beijing Transport Institute

WRI Insight blog (and TheCityFix): https://www.wri.org/insights/mobility-service-platform-green-transportation
Blog for MaaS Alliance: https://maas-alliance.eu/2023/08/11/beijing-case-of-mobility-as-a-service-scheme/.

The latest publication with our partner (NCUT): "Annual Report on the Development of Shared Mobility in China" (2022-2023), link: https://book.douban.com/subject/36367696/