Introducing On-Demand Transit Services to make transport accessible for Ulaanbaatar’s vulnerable populations
The capital city of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar (UB), where close to half of the country’s population resides, has been facing challenges to meet the increasing urban transport demand from its rapid urbanisation. Severe traffic congestion, air pollution, rising road fatalities and injuries, inadequate public transport services, and vulnerability to natural hazards such as flooding are affecting the city’s livability and disproportionately hurting the vulnerable and low-income population. The challenges faced by UB’s urban transport sector necessitates not only infrastructure investments, but also innovative solutions to efficient service provision. On this premise, the grant aims to lay the analytical foundation of a solution to public transport service provision to improve the ability of the low-income residents in the peripheral area of UB. Specifically, the grant will support the design and development of the first ever On-Demand Transit Service (ODTS) based on the Mobility as a Service (MaaS) concept for Ulaanbaatar. The concept of the MaaS lies on an integrated, multimodal, and technology enabled mobility service. In order to develop and organize the public transport sector based on the MaaS concept and introduce the ODTS, numerous policies, processes and technology interventions will be needed.
The Ulaanbaatar Sustainable Intelligent Transport System
An integral part of smart solutions to UB’s growing number of road and transportation challenges is the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS). UB’s numerous road and transportation problems include worsening congestion, increasing rates of traffic accidents, deteriorating infrastructure quality, and declining transportation services. The Municipality of Ulaanbaatar (MUB) has funded countless initiatives to address these challenges through bilateral and multilateral partnerships over the past two decades. However, the impact of these road traffic efficiency and safety improvements has been limited due to coordination and sustainability-related issues. The integrated planning and implementation of UB City’s ITS will enable more efficient use of existing road and transportation infrastructure, greater focus on data-based planning and management, and improved access and mobility of UB citizens. To that end, the USUTP has produced an ITS Diagnostics Report and Needs Assessment to support the development of ITS in an sustainable, flexible, and comprehensive manner. This report will serve as the basis for the MUB’s cooperation with international partners. Specifically, it will help with; (1) determining how to implement the best possible Intelligent Transport Systems in UB (2) determining what equipment to remove or redeploy; (3) determining what equipment to upgrade or replace; and (4) determining which systems need to be interconnected and/or integrated, phased out, or require major acquisitions.
Supporting the participation of Smart Cities in Ulaanbaatar’s Intelligent Transport Systems
The Global Smart Cities Partnership (GSPC) program supports World Bank project teams and clients in adopting smart city best practices and solutions to help build sustainable cities and improve their capacity to plan and implement smart city investment projects. In collaboration with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport of Korea, the World Bank initiated the GSPC in 2018.
The GSPC has provided grants to Ulaanbaatar (UB) in order to support the development of its Intelligent Transportation System. This activity is a part of the World Bank’s Ulaanbaatar Sustainable Urban Transport Project (USUTP), which was approved in June 2021[1]. Aiming to create a comprehensive sustainable road and transportation system in the city of UB, the USUTP views the development of Intelligent Transport Systems as integral to upgrading the city’s road traffic management.
The Ulaanbaatar Transport Asset Management Plan
As a part of Subcomponent 3: Strategics studies, consulting services involving the design of the Transport Infrastructure Investment Plan (TIIP) and the Transport Asset Management Plan (TAMP) have been planned. The main objectives of the TIIP and TAMP are to modernise Ulaanbaatar’s transport infrastructure investment, maintenance and repair process such that they are evidence-based and efficient.