Four years ago, it was proposed that gasoline and diesel vehicles be banned from certain cities and states; but the new trend towards mobility as a service has caused a major re-think. It’s not enough to insist on electric vehicles; privately owned cars are just so wasteful.

Now it’s becoming illegal to own your own car. It takes up too much of the city’s resources, parking and charging; and the wasted asset, standing idle while you are not travelling – where’s the sense in that?

Fleet vehicles can be kept busy through the latest mobility platforms, which have even unseated Uber as the most popular choice, massively reducing the need for parking and multi-lane highways. Public transport has been democratized, down to serving an individual, on demand.

To prevent retro reactionaries from upsetting this new urban order, London and New York have simultaneously come out with a ban on private car ownership. If you want to operate a privately-owned car, it’s got to be beyond the city limits.

Jimmy Drummond, the current host of car show ‘Top Gear’ was heard to scoff: “They won’t be seeing me in the city any time soon!” But the show’s ratings are down and declining. Other than ‘petrolheaders’, there’s not much interest in cars these days.

The simple fact is, you really don’t need your own car anymore; mobility has become a service you access on demand. What a pleasure!