As the recent white paper on China’s transport for the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016–2020) states, China must set higher standards for the transport development to “realize the Chinese Dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” (State Council Information Office 2016).

India's bus sector is certainly underperforming. The country does not have enough buses to run on their routes and cater to their citizens, leaving them at the mercy of private vehicles. Even as governments push for improving public transport ridership, the country’s transport infrastructure sees a continuous decline.

This working paper presents a working definition of the term new mobility services, which encompasses a broad set of emerging operating models and technologies that are intended to improve the performance of urban transportation systems.