Magazine BEAST #16 2019

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#Business | Mobility
A NEW MOBILITY
TO IMPROVE THE
QUALITY OF LIFE
BY ALEXANDRE KEILMANN
Tamy Ribeiro is the Chief Mobility Evangelist & Head of
Partnerships at Wunder Mobility, a tech startup which was
created in Hamburg, Germany, with the mission to provide a smart
mobility marketplace. On November 26 TH , she will participate to a
re-invented edition of Luxembourg’s Mobility Summit and share
her expertise by notably depicting the latest trends of a sector
that is going through a deep transformation phase. Prior to her
keynote speech, we met with her to address to current mobility
challenges faced by Europeans, while discussing the need for
private companies and cities to collaborate on the establishment
of a new type of mobility.
What are the main mobility challenges users face every
single day in Europe? Wunder Mobility also has offices
in India: how are the mobility challenges different
from the ones in Europe?
The mobility challenges that users face in Europe varies
wildly depending on location. In parts of Eastern and
Southern Europe, very limited resources are being spent
on the upkeep and maintenance of streets and bridges. In
our major metropolises like London and Paris, congestion
remains a huge problem. And in Germany, which is known as
the «auto nation», private car ownership is still de rigueur
in many suburban and rural areas - not just because of the
car’s popularity, but because investments are only being
made in urban projects, and not in rural mobility initiatives.
That needs to change!
In India, the landscape is vastly different. India has the
second largest population in the world, which translates
into more issues with overcrowding and congestion. In some
rural areas, infrastructure is at times almost nonexistent,
which naturally comes with its own set of challenges.
Cultural differences like preferring motorbikes to ride hailing
also need to be accounted for.
What is your vision of today’s mobility? Which aspects need
to be improved? How?
We are already off to a good start with new and accessible
shared mobility types, but a big problem with mobility
today is the lack of cooperation between cities and private
companies. A range of new providers have entered the
market recently and are competing for precious space in
cities, and local governments are often ill-equipped to
manage the influx.
BEAST MAGAZINE #16