What would happen if every parking lot in this city became a park? This was one of the questions that Mariana Serrano, Director of Operations for Uber in Latin America, posed to the attendees of the business summit during her participation in the panel “Sustainable Cities and Communities”.
Serrano said: “Uber has a vision of a world without private cars, since each car required many resources to create: batteries, production, transportation. The efficiency of these resources is not used, because 95% of the time the cars are parked”.
Convincingly, the directive explained that cities must be made for people, inclusive spaces, in which inequality is eliminated. Perhaps it seems impossible for infrastructure planning to be focused on citizens and not on opening more spaces to automobiles, however, it must be a joint effort between governments, Private Initiative and Society.
To create initiatives that take us to the future we want, one that is sustainable, Serrano assured that we need to work together to process data, make measurements and ensure that the use of technologies is transparent, without forgetting the need for an infrastructure adequate and the promotion of clean energies.
Uber initiatives to improve mobility
The Director of Operations for Uber in Latin America expanded the information on the four steps that the company promotes to favor the communities where it has a presence.
- They are committed to reaching zero emissions as a platform in 2040. With the option that in the cities that have greater collaboration, they can achieve it in 2030.
- UberPlanet. With this initiative they began with the substitution of carbon emissions. Users of the mobile application can buy carbon credits, to contribute to an electric mobility fund with each trip.
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Through Uber + Transit, a product available in Mexico City and Guadalajara, and which is expected to be extended to other cities; They propose working together, that is, that people combine the use of public transport with the Uber service.
- In addition, through alliances, such as the one made with Vemo, Uber is committed to the electrification of fleets. There are currently 250 electric cars as part of the program in CDMX.
Regarding the project to use electric cars, the company faces great challenges, Serrano said. First, inform your driving partners about the benefits of this type of fleet. Secondly, regarding the acquisition, the cost is high and there is not much supply. As a third point, cities do not yet have the infrastructure required for electric cars; for example, it is impossible to make a trip to a destination outside the metropolitan area and return, when most of the recharging stations in the capital are only located in some central points of the City.
“We need a city made for pedestrians, for each car for personal use that we remove from the streets, the mobility requirements are replaced. Our hope is that a large part of the population opts for micromobility: walking, using bicycles, scooters, among others”, he concluded.
Find out what happened in the panel
