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.
Announcements
Join Us Tomorrow:
Shared Mobility Holiday Open House
December 5, 2019 | 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm |Chicago
Part holiday party, part shared mobility learning forum, and part meet and greet, you don’t want to miss this fun event. You can enjoy complimentary drinks and appetizers as you explore the Shared-Use Mobility Center’s pilots, applied research, and initiatives that will help shape transportation—and the city of Chicago—in 2020.
Early-bird registration is now open. Save your spot and save money too.
We’re looking for mobility innovators for the 2020 Startup Spotlight
This popular event gives cutting-edge young companies and ingenious ideas the chance the shine. Just submit your application, and finalists will be chosen to pitch their work in front of a panel of esteemed judges and audience members. Then the top three will be featured in the Shared Mobility Expo and will pitch their ideas to the entire conference for the chance to be named the #1 Mobility Startup to Watch.
Apply for the Startup Spotlight
Interested in sponsoring this standout event? Reach out [email protected]
Ridehailing/Carsharing/Carpooling
Data analyzed by Reuters shows that shared ridehail fares have risen in Chicago, while solo trip fares have remained steady. Although TNCs differ in their reasons why, there’s no debate that this disproportionately affects lower-income communities who need affordable transit the most.
Equity is top-of-mind, as it should be, in this article by Transfer Magazine that dives into the ways ridehailing services measure up (and don’t) in expanding transportation access to underserved areas of Los Angeles.
VetsRides is a new program in DC that is helping veterans get to important medical appointments and jobs with free trips from ridehailing company Via.
Carpooling app Hytch is working with the San Francisco Bay Area Council to cut down road congestion as part of the Council’s new transportation demand management coalition.
Partnerships and Programs
LA County’s Zero Emissions 2028 Roadmap 2.0 outlines goals that the city aims to meet before hosting the 2028 Olympics, including emission-free travel for people and goods and reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions by 25%.
Atlanta wants residents to weigh in on the draft of its $173 billion Regional Transportation Plan, which seeks to grow metro mobility options with measures earmarked for bus and rail upgrades, transit network extensions, and more focus on multi-use trails, carpooling, and other forms of transportation.
Pedestrians looking to spend some time around New York’s Rockefeller Center are getting a special treat this holiday season as Mayor de Blasio closes off parts of Fifth and Sixth Avenues (and a few side streets) to vehicle traffic for the holiday season.
A $1 million grant from the US DOT will help Bloomington, IN upgrade its public transit fare payment system to “incorporate electronic swipe cards, stored-value cards, day-passes, and online account-based passes”. The FTA will award a total of $423 million in grants to improve the nation’s bus infrastructure.
Bikesharing and Micromobility
Chicago won’t be pushing out its pedal-assist Divvy bikes until spring, but the bikeshare expansion plan will add 60 new stations, up from the initially promised 30, around the city’s South Side along with 10 miles of new bike lanes.
Meanwhile, New York’s Citi Bike Equity Advisory Board wants to help bring more bikeshare to the metro region’s outer boroughs and historically underserved communities, effectively doubling the system’s service area and tripling Citi Bike’s fleet.
California mobility company Ojo has announced plans to acquire bikeshare and scooter startup Gotcha in a bid to compete with industry titans Lime and Bird.
Read The Conversation’s insights and detailed inner workings of Paris’ micromobility environment that covers legacy bikeshare, dockless scooters’ fast adoption, and lessons learned from analyzing the way people ride on two wheels in the city.
Transit
The Metropolitan Planning Council has released a new report laying out 32 recommendations for public agencies to improve public transportation for people with disabilities, a solid foundation for transit access for all.
The Active Transportation Alliance wants to help you understand fare-cappingand why it’s necessary to cap the limits of pay-as-you-go or non-monthly fares charged for people who can’t afford a monthly pass upfront.
Check out The New York Time’s latest interactive feature on the history and design legacy of New York’s subway system map.
Chicago’s holiday-themed buses and rail cars are set to cruise around the city this season soon so learn how the tradition began on Curbed.
Technology
The autonomous vehicle craze had a speedy development in the US, with companies and cities shoehorning self-driving shuttle pilots and AV tech partnerships into the public eye. In the midst of all this head-spinning, automation-age futurism, where’s the regulatory discussion heading?
Apple’s Express tap-to-go payment functionality finally reached London’s public transport fare system, allowing riders to make quick and easy mobile payments on all buses, trams and the underground Tube.
In a world where cities are having problems managing how streets and roads handle multimodal traffic, the San Francisco-based StreetLight Data is helping agencies leverage digital tools to get more data-driven insights on today’s urban planning dilemmas.
The Maryland DOT and Robotic Research are launching an autonomous shuttle pilot in Clarksburg, MD with Local Motor’s Olli vehicle to test driverless tech capabilities on public roadways.
Urban Sustainability
A new committee in New York wants to eliminate free parking in the city as curb space continues to be a contested battlefield for the right of way. Could it be done?
Read how Cycling Without Age, a global network of cyclists who offer recreational mobility to seniors, is helping older adults with mobility issues experience biking through tri-shaw bike rides.
When you think about New York, do you picture the iconic green chairs at Bryant Park? Learn how these popular park mainstays revolutionized public space in the city and influenced community architecture on Gothamist.
People without cars make up a small portion of residents in California but understanding their mobility choices and circumstances can signal how cities can advance transportation policies and programs that avoid solely focusing on motor vehicle traffic.
Requests for Proposals, Inquiries, and Information
RFI: Rural Ride Sharing Field Tests
Nova Scotia Department of Energy & Mines
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Deadline: January 31, 2020
RFP: Sepulveda Transit Corridor Project
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Los Angeles County
Deadline: April 1, 2020
Access the RFP here.
RFP: Accelerating Clean Transportation Solutions
Massachusetts Clean Energy Center
Boston, Massachusetts
Deadline: March 3, 2020
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