Giving Compass' Take:

• Chris Teale reports that experts at LA CoMotion agreed that in order to ease congestion and hit climate targets, urban transportation needs upgrades. 

• How can donors and impact investors help to kick off the research needed to make these suggestions possible?

• Learn about the challenges of user-centered transportation. 

If cities are to ease congestion, they will need to embrace all kinds of options, including flying taxis, autonomous vehicles (AVs) and transit, as well as congestion pricing and other strategies to curb car usage.

Those were the major points of emphasis at the second and final day of LA CoMotion, a conference in Los Angeles that discussed the future of mobility and how it can be used to give people options beyond their personal vehicles.

"We know that to meet our emissions goals, we need fuel efficiency, no question. We need changes in land use, no question," Seleta Reynolds, general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) said during a panel discussion. "But none of that's going to be enough. People have to drive less."

To do that, several speakers spoke in favor of congestion pricing, which has been successful in cities like London and has been discussed and proposed in New York City as a way to curb gridlock. Surveys have shown there is also broad support among the public, many of whom are willing to pay higher taxes and tolls if it means more investment in infrastructure.

Read the full article about the future of urban transportation by Chris Teale at Smart Cities Dive.