In Italy, around 80% of all passenger journeys are still made using private vehicles, primarily cars. This figure reflects how dominant personal mobility remains — not only in terms of how people move, but also in how cities are designed, how public money is spent, and how individual routines are structured.
Personal vehicles absorb nearly 90% of household mobility spending. Roads, taxes, and habits all reinforce a system that, while offering freedom and convenience, carries significant social, environmental, and economic costs.
Yet change is underway. The concept of shared mobility is gaining traction — not just among industry experts, but across the public sphere. The Future Ways 2024 Report, published by the Fondazione per lo Sviluppo Sostenibile and the Italian National Observatory on Sharing Mobility, presents a new framework to understand this transition. It clearly distinguishes between two mobility models: personal mobility, based on private vehicle use, and mobility-as-a-service, built on shared and public transport systems.
Shared mobility goes far beyond traditional public transport. It includes a diverse ecosystem: buses, trains, taxis, carsharing, micromobility, on-demand transport, and increasingly digital-first solutions. In this model, vehicles are not owned but accessed when needed. Users connect with services in real time, selecting the option that best suits their needs.
This is not about replacing the car with another single mode of transport. It’s about complementarity — creating an integrated system where each service plays a role. The goal is to empower people to choose the most efficient, affordable, and sustainable option based on time, distance, and context.
The Power of Digital Integration
Digitalisation plays a central role in this shift. MaaS platforms (Mobility as a Service) make it possible to plan, book, and pay for multimodal journeys in one place. Telematics and data analytics help forecast demand, optimise service coverage, and improve efficiency. Technologies like GPS, cloud computing, AI, and contactless payments are making this model more accessible than ever.
More importantly, digital tools are driving a cultural shift. Increasingly, especially in urban areas, people are moving from ownership to access, from driving to being transported, and from a personal mindset to a shared one. This reflects a broader change in priorities — towards sustainability, flexibility, and better use of time.
Shared mobility delivers measurable advantages. Shared vehicles produce lower emissions per passenger-kilometre than private cars. The fleets are newer and more electrified — over 26% of shared vehicles in Italy are electric, compared to just 0.5% of the private fleet. External costs such as air pollution, noise, accidents and congestion are also significantly reduced.
Socially, shared mobility helps fight transport poverty — the inability to travel due to financial or geographical barriers. In rural areas and small towns, where public transport is often limited, shared services can provide essential access to work, education, healthcare and social participation.
Despite its potential, shared mobility in Italy still faces major challenges. Service coverage is patchy and underdeveloped, especially outside large cities. Investment in public transport has remained stagnant for over a decade, and per-capita spending is lower than in countries like France and Spain.
The report calls for a “supply shock”: a decisive expansion of services, better infrastructure, and governance focused on integrating operators and local authorities. Without this shift, shared mobility will remain a niche rather than a norm.
Conclusion
Shared mobility is not a passing trend. It is a strategic lever for building more sustainable, inclusive, and efficient cities. The change has already begun — but real impact will depend on collective ambition, public investment, and political courage.
Offering real alternatives to private car use doesn’t reduce freedom — it multiplies options. It enables a vision of mobility that is smarter, fairer, and more resilient to the demands of our time.
Source: “Future Ways 2024 – Why Shared Mobility Matters”, Fondazione per lo Sviluppo Sostenibile and Osservatorio Nazionale Sharing Mobility. This article presents a reworked and summarised version for educational and non-commercial purposes.