Q: An easy one to start, what is collaborative mobility?

A: The success story of car-sharing, more than almost any other innovation in transport, has in recent years marked the onset of a new way of organising every-day transport, widely referred to as “collaborative mobility”. New peer-to-peer (P2P) networks are being established between collective and individual transport in which the citizen liberates his mobility from the private purchase of a mobility tool, such as an automobile, while at the same time looking beyond just one or a few major suppliers to satisfy his mobility needs.

Private car-sharers, multinational ride-sharing companies, bike-sharing operators, parking-space platforms, long distance bus transport providers, taxi-apps and so-called transport network companies are all advocates of this new kind of mobility organisation.

Q: Could you tell us about wocomoco?

A: The World Collaborative Mobility Congress was created by the Swiss Mobility Academy in 2013 as a unique and new platform on shared or collaborative mobility.

The mission of the wocomoco is to bring innovation to everyday mobility by promoting a shared use of transport products, services and infrastructures, thus stimulating a new global market for collaborative mobility solutions.

Q: What is the aim of the Congress?

A: To bring together, on an annual basis, organisations and individuals from the public and private sector involved in developing, marketing and regulating collaborative mobility solutions. To engage co-mobility leaders from across the world, get them to interact and jointly shape a new global market for collaborative mobility products, services and infrastructures.

Q: What is planned for the 2016 edition of the Congress?

A: Following its successful launch in 2013 and its 2nd and 3rd edition in 2014 and 2015, the mobility academy is now further enlarging the Congress for 2016 and 2017, expanding both its outreach and partnerships. After Switzerland and Austria, the 4th World Collaborative Mobility Congress will take place in Warsaw, Poland, on 7-8 September 2016. A two-day event with keynotes, presentations, debates, exhibitions and excursions, also offering unique opportunities for making new contacts, catalysing dialogues and highlighting success-stories, focusing in particular on the Eastern European comobility market.

For more information on collaborative mobility and the wocomoco, go to www.wocomoco.org