- Deloitte flags five 2025–2026 priorities for transportation leaders: resilient infrastructure, AI/digital modernization, sustainable funding, equitable access, and climate/cyber risk readiness.
- Market forecasts are large and rising, with smart transportation projected at $264B globally by 2030 and transit & ground passenger transport growing from $706B (2025) to $1.48T (2034).
- High-upside moves include ridesharing (up to $30.3B/year in potential U.S. societal savings), digital twins, fare reforms, and public-private investment in charging and modern operations.
- Key constraints are uneven EV-charging buildout, escalating cyberattacks, climate-driven asset stress, fragmented regulation, and the need for transparent accountability to sustain public trust.
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The recent trend reports signal that transportation systems globally and in the U.S. are entering a phase of deep transformation rather than mere evolution. The “Global Transportation Trends 2025” from Deloitte underscores five strategic priorities for government transportation leaders, including safety, climate adaptation, resiliency, and tech‐driven mobility. These are reinforced by other data points indicating rapidly rising market sizes and economic incentives: for example, the smart transportation sector is expected to hit $264 billion by 2030, with North America and Europe accounting for the bulk. Concurrently, the Transit & Ground Passenger Transport market is projected to more than double from about $706.2 billion in 2025 to $1.48 trillion by 2034.
Crucially, innovation must be anchored in social equity. Reports show that reliability and affordability are failing mobility-dependent populations, especially low-income and suburban commuters. Subsidy and fare reform experiments (e.g., flat fees, free travel for students/seniors) are already increasing ridership and access. Ridesharing emerges as promising: in U.S. metros, 19 million commuters could switch from driving alone to ridesharing under better enabling conditions, generating over $30 billion in annual societal savings. But such shifts require overcoming trust deficits in agencies, regulatory fragmentation, and infrastructure gaps, particularly for EVs and charging, which remain under-distributed.
From an investment and policy perspective, several implications stand out. First, there is a strong rationale for public-private partnerships and patient capital flowing into transportation infrastructure, especially in digital signal systems, AI-enabled operations, charging networks, and last-mile micro-mobility. Second, risk management—against climate impacts, cybersecurity threats, and political perception—will distinguish successful projects. Third, regulators and agencies that lead with transparent accountability (on how funds are used, performance outcomes) will better win public trust and support major shifts in funding models like road use charges and congestion pricing.
Open questions remain regarding the pace of change—how quickly EV charging infrastructure can be built at scale; the rate at which riders will return to public transit; whether societal climate goals will be met given infrastructure inertia; and how policy harmonization across U.S. states (and globally) can be achieved in a highly fragmented regulatory environment.
Supporting Notes
- Deloitte’s 2025 “Global Transportation Trends” highlights five priorities for government transportation leaders: resilience, climate-adapted systems, cyber-security risks, and tech/AI-driven mobility.
- The smart transportation market is forecasted to reach US$264 billion globally by 2030, with Europe and North America expected to capture approximately US$89.6 billion and US$84.3 billion respectively.
- Transit and ground passenger transport market expected to grow from US$706.2 billion in 2025 to US$1.48 trillion by 2034, at ~8.7 % CAGR, with micro-mobility gaining traction amid urban sprawl.
- Experiments in fare reform: Queensland’s flat fee of 50 cents across all public transport, and Lisbon’s free transport for residents under 18, students up to 23, and senior citizens increased ridership by nearly 60% (33,000 additional commuters) within one year.
- Potential of ridesharing: In U.S. metros, approximately 19 million commuters could shift from driving alone to ridesharing; this could yield annual savings of US$30.3 billion in direct costs, congestion, infrastructure, accidents, and emissions.
- Charging infrastructure under strain: U.S. public EV charging outlets nearly doubled over recent years, but growth is uneven; for example, 32 % of all public outlets in 2021 were in California, equivalent to the next eight states combined.
- Cybersecurity and resilience risks: ransomware attacks in transportation up by 186 % between mid-2020 and mid-2021, alongside climate-induced stresses like roads buckling and bridges being damaged more frequently.