Welcome to the Shared-Use Mobility Center’s weekly guide to the most impactful news, thought-provoking articles and innovative technologies that are shaping our transportation future. We believe in sharing information, just like sharing cars, bikes, and scooters, so if there’s anything additional you’d like to see, just drop us a line.
Events & Announcements
Chicago’s New Transportation and Mobility Task Force releases a new roadmap for the city’s transportation future.
On March 14, the Chicago Connectory (the local tech incubator that includes SUMC’s home office) welcomed Mayor Emanuel to present the Roadmap for the Future of Transportation and Mobility in Chicago, developed by the New Transportation and Mobility Task Force. Created in September 2018 and chaired by former US Secretary of Transportation LaHood, the task force is made up of 20 experts and thought leaders from the transportation, mobility, and technology sectors including SUMC Executive Director Sharon Feigon. Over the course of the next 6 months, the task force developed over 50 actionable recommendations and defined next steps, supported by a set of guiding principles, to ensure that the city’s transportation system can integrate applicable new technologies while providing choices that are safe, equitable, accessible, and sustainable to all residents. Read more about the roadmap.
Couldn’t attend every workshop and session at the #SUMC19 Summit? Stay tuned for “What We Learned from the 2019 Shared Mobility Summit Sessions,” containing insights and takeaways from session organizers.
Check out a summary of the FHWA Global Benchmarking Program Report on the SUMC MOD Learning Center.
Explore the past, present, and future of Chicago transit at this free lecture featuring Jeff Sriver of the Chicago Department of Transportation, Audrey Wennink of the Metropolitan Planning Council, and Vig Krishnamurthy of Ford Smart Mobility.
Ridehailing and Carpooling
Lyft sets its sights on a total valuation of $23 billion as the ridehailing company moves closer towards a public offering.
The University of Colorado released a study that shows a shift in parking demand as people opt for ridehailing over driving & parking in the Denver region.
Barcelona is in the midst of a regulatory struggle with Uber & Cabify as it tries to meet the demands of taxi drivers by imposing restrictive rules on ridehail operation.
Carsharing
Hyundai wants to give people more seamless access to P2P carsharing with their new Digital Key technology.
Are shared electric “microcars” the next step in the evolving world of micromobility?
German charging network provider Innogy is launching 500 BMW i3 #EVs in Warsaw this April, making it one of the largest carsharing systems in Europe.
Bikesharing and Micromobility
A proposed $50 million contract by Lyft wants to bring Divvy bikeshare to every ward in Chicago, along with 10,500 pedal-assist bikes with dock & dockless capabilities and 175 stations.
DC is also making moves in the e-bike space with a new roll out of 500 EV pedal-assist bikes for Capital Bikeshare starting this week.
Bird wants to get more people on scooters with Bird Platform: a new service to make dockless scooter entrepreneurs.
A new one-year pilot for dockless scooters and bikes calls for data to be shared between the city and mobility operators, but what does this mean for the privacy of users?
Transit
Cities, operators, and researchers want to eliminate inefficiencies that are slowing down mircrotransit shuttles, and the momentum to make transit more on-demand is behind them.
The Durham-Orange Light Rail Transit project, over 20 years in the making, hit a massive roadblock as construction and safety issues surfaced between the city and Duke University.
The history of transit between Atlanta and Gwinnett county reflects the stark segregation between the suburbs and urban metro. Now, a proposed referendum aims to unite the areas under one public transit system.
Technology
Portland’s new beta trip planner shoots for more multi-modal trips by combining transit, bikeshare, carshare, ridehail, and walking options.
An app called Safe & The City wants to be the ‘Waze for pedestrian safety’ with personal safety navigation, route sharing and geo-tagging/rating for walks with a focus on increasing women’s safety.
German mobility platform Moovit and SpotHero are teaming up to offer easy access to parking around transit stations for first-mile solutions in the Bay Area.
A new executive order in Pittsburgh sets guidelines to test self-driving cars: protect pedestrians, cyclists, and public transit while ensuring “high-occupancy, low-emissions autonomous vehicles.”
Urban Sustainability
Bike benefits for commuters may make a come back with a new proposed bill in Congress.
“Changing urban transportation behavior in cities won’t be easy,” says Zipcar co-founder and NUMO Alliance chair Robin Chase, “but the need to reduce single-occupancy driving is vital to reducing the effects of climate change.” Read more on CityLab.
A new Streets for All Coalition, announced at SXSW, aims to reduce car dependence in the US and advocate for more sustainable, equitable mobility.11 national organizations including Bird have already signed on.
In 2018, Pedestrian deaths rose in half of America’s states, with Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia and Texas accounting for 46% of all pedestrians deaths in the country.
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