Singapore Leads the World in Urban Mobility

The Southeast Asian city-state of Singapore is not only the world’s most competitive economy as ranked by Forbes recently. It also tops the rankings in Oliver Wyman Forum’s inaugural Urban Mobility Readiness Index, which rates 30 cities on how prepared they are to incorporate the latest mobility technologies and what they’re doing to reshape urban mobility.

Singapore ranks number one in the index because it recognizes the importance of building ecosystems, private-sector and research partnerships, and infrastructure investment, says Oliver Wyman. It has been a pioneer in reducing traffic congestion through various initiatives and leads the way in the latest mobility tools, platforms and services, as well as autonomous driving and real-time, digitized traffic management.

“Cities destined to become tomorrow’s mobility leaders are forward-thinking and user-centric,” said Guillaume Thibault, an Oliver Wyman partner and one of the creators of the new index. “They take a data-driven approach and work with the private sector to find solutions.”
The research was conducted with The Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

Rounding out the top five are Amsterdam, London, Shanghai, and New York. The lone U.S. city in Oliver Wyman’s top 10 achieved its fifth-place ranking mainly on the efficiency of its mass transit system, although it lags in other metrics. Five other North American cities—San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston and Toronto—made the top 20.

The index analyzes existing public and private mobility networks; current regulation, policy, and infrastructure; a city’s livability; and its capacity to absorb future technologies. Although it attempts to rank the outlooks for various cities, Oliver Wyman says the research also provides best practices and concrete strategies that will allow cities to upgrade their offerings. The goal is to transform urban mobility from a challenge into a competitive economic advantage.

Oliver Wyman says there’s no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to urban mobility because no two cities are starting from the same point. For one thing, cities around the world operate at vastly different stages of development when it comes to mobility.

In 14th-ranked Los Angeles, 89% of travel involves a car, while in 11th-place Hong Kong, only 7% does. In Amsterdam, 60% of people get around by cycling or walking; in Mexico City (ranked 25th out of 30), 70% take mass transit.

“Municipal governments see the need to become increasingly proactive and agile in the evolving mobility landscape,” said UC Berkeley’s Alexandre Bayen. “Cities see the benefits of re-focusing on the basics of public transportation and infrastructure development in order to lead in the next generation of mobility. Cities who embrace technology and have proactive regulation will become leaders in the mobility revolution.”

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