GO-Mobility

The 2024 report: the consolidation of a new normal

On June 3, the third edition of Data Mobility took place, GO-Mobility’s annual event dedicated to promoting data culture in the field of mobility and transportation. This year, the event was enriched by several new features: Data Mobility 2024 was organized in collaboration with Motion Analytica and took place for the first time in Milan at Microsoft House, a valuable partner in the initiative alongside sponsors Vodafone Business and Viasat Group.

The event was attended by a select audience of over 100 guests from more than 45 companies and organizations in the field of mobility, transportation, and ICT. In pursuing the logic of innovation and participation that inspires Data Mobility, this year’s focus was on concrete interaction between participants and developing networking opportunities, combining a traditional conference with high-level keynote speeches with a more immersive experience in the form of the afternoon’s Mobility Hack. This was an opportunity for active involvement between participants and experts from GO-Mobility and Motion Analytica, through the exploration of innovative solutions combining data, expertise, and AI to solve typical mobility problems in our cities.

As stated at the opening by Daniele Mancuso, CEO of GO-Mobility, “With Data Mobility, we are building a community based on data culture in the field of mobility. We firmly believe in innovation and developments that can be achieved with the support of artificial intelligence. This is why Data Mobility 2024 aims to be a precursor to a path that we know will revolutionize the professional world of transport planning, data science applied to mobility, and city administration.”

Where did we leave off? Trajectories of the new normal

The first “new normal” observed in 2022 saw a general decrease in car travel compared to 2019 and less traffic congestion. What are the main trends observed between 2022 and 2023?

Stabilization of the “New Normal”

For the first time since 2020, we are seeing a stabilisation effect in the main mobility indicators, suggesting a phase of equilibrium.

Restoration of the morning peak

In general, there has been a slight increase in travel, and Monday has returned to being a weekday similar to the others (unlike the decline observed in 2022, which gave rise to “Monday is the new Friday” in the last edition), with a morning peak once again present as it was in the pre-pandemic period (especially in Milan).

Increased congestion

Despite the modest increase in traffic flows, congestion has increased significantly, with a decrease in average speed in all metropolitan cities.

Suburban traffic

The increase in car travel particularly affects suburban areas (commuting) and the morning rush hour, when longer journeys in the same directions and routes originate, causing congestion comparable to or even greater than in 2019. Although people are traveling less than in 2019, a large proportion of people have returned to traveling by car in the morning, especially for medium to long distances, partly due to the lack of response from public transport in terms of more efficient services and infrastructure.

Territorial diversity in responses to change

Cities have shown different responses to new mobility habits. While some have seen a significant decrease in car travel per capita (Messina, Palermo, Catania), others have remained stable. Still others have seen an increase (Milan, Bologna, Florence), highlighting a strong correlation with the levels of accessibility of the territories to the primary road network. Different hourly habits are also becoming established: the North moves a lot during rush hour (morning and evening), while in the South the peak is at lunchtime.

In-depth analysis of some key indicators

Mobility level indicators

After a sharp decline between 2019 and 2022, indicators of car dependency and car trips per inhabitant are increasing again for the cities of Milan, Florence, and Bologna, both at the capital and metropolitan city levels. Conversely, the downward trend continues for the island territories (in particular for the cities of Messina and Cagliari). The municipality of Milan is the territory with the highest percentage increase (+10% and 8.5% respectively for the two indicators), while the largest decreases are found in Cagliari (-4% and -13%).

Performance indicators

Analyzing the average speeds of car travel, it can be seen that in 2023, in all provincial capitals and metropolitan cities, travel speeds decreased compared to 2022, contrary to what was recorded in the comparison between pre- and post-pandemic. The decreases are more pronounced in provincial capitals than in metropolitan cities, again affecting cities located along the A1 motorway. It is worth noting the data for the metropolitan city of Milan, where there is a decrease similar to that seen in the capital (-7% compared to -7.5%), contrary to other areas where the decrease in speed is much greater in the capital. There is no particular correlation between these variations and those of the related indicators (percentage of short trips, average distances traveled, and average trip lengths), which on average stabilize at 2022 values, indicating that the effect observed can be attributed mainly to increased congestion.

Pressure on cities

The indicator shows the number of people recorded for at least 30 minutes within the territory (“city users”) per 100 regular inhabitants (defined as overnight residents). The average value of approximately 2 city users per inhabitant is symptomatic of the high pressure to which metropolitan areas are subjected every day and for which the transport network must be properly planned. Generally, the indicator has a higher value for metropolitan cities than for provincial capitals. The areas where the pressure is lowest are the large cities of the center-north (the city of Rome has a value of 129 city users per 100 regular inhabitants), while it is higher for cities in the south and on the islands. A special case is found in the municipality of Messina (more than 4 city users per inhabitant) and the metropolitan city of Reggio Calabria (almost 3 per inhabitant), probably influenced by the presence of the ferry service between Messina and Villa San Giovanni.

Regular foreign visitors

With the exception of Venice, the number of regular foreign visitors is growing in all the cities surveyed. These are people who come from abroad and visit the city not for tourism but for work or because they have second homes there. The increase is particularly noticeable in the municipalities of Messina (+47%), Cagliari (+30%), Bologna (+27%) and, to a lesser extent, Turin (+12%), Naples (+11%) and Genoa (+9%).

What can we conclude?

As Daniele Di Antonio (GO-Mobility) states, “Major changes always generate new balances.” Mobility therefore tends to self-regulate: the data analyzed indicates that Italian metropolitan cities are entering a phase of consolidation of the “new normal,” reaching a new configuration of post-pandemic equilibrium. Compared to the pre-pandemic period, this new phase is characterized by a lower number of car trips but over longer distances, and by a growing presence of foreigners not linked to tourism.

The greater weight of medium- to long-range car journeys requires different levels of adaptability on the part of local areas, which largely seem to depend on the level of accessibility to the motorway network. The data sources used are able to show the pressure on cities and local areas and how both private and public mobility options significantly influence demand.

Daniele Mancuso, CEO of GO-Mobility, states that “This analysis provides an in-depth understanding of new mobility habits in major Italian cities. The combined use of these data sources is essential for policymakers and local administrations to identify solutions suited to the new post-pandemic balance with a view to greater sustainability of the entire system.”

Denis Cappellari, CEO of Motion Analytica, adds: “The spread of a solid data culture at all levels of the company is now essential to initiate a process of continuous improvement based on data and AI-driven decisions. Only through a methodical approach, which integrates different data sources that measure mobility, will it be possible to plan effectively and sustainably for tomorrow.”

Would you like to know more about the data and methods used? A detailed description of the indicators and calculation methods used for the annual Data Mobility report can be found in the methodological note.