The Mobility Hub

Your weekly guide to the latest in shared mobility

SUMC News and Announcements

 

Shared Mobility Rocks with this roster of speakers 
We’re excited to announce the following speakers for our two sessions at Shared Mobility Rocks, the (un)convention on shared mobility that takes you on a 24hr trip around the globe. Snag a free ticket here. 

Session 5: Micromobility Innovation, March 3 at 12:00 PM CT/19:00 GMT +1

Chad Ballentine
Vice President, Demand Response and Innovative Mobility
Capital Metro

David Johnson
Chief Strategy Officer
Kansas City Area Transportation Authority

Karina Ricks
Director
Pittsburgh Department of Mobility and Infrastructure

Stephen Rijo
Senior City Planner
City and County of Denver

Session 6: Decarbonizing Transportation, March 3 at 2:00 PM CT/21:00 GMT +1

Ashley Georgiou
Staff Air Pollution Specialist
California Air Resources Board
Mobile Source Control Division

Dr. Regan Patterson
Transportation Equity Research Fellow
Congressional Black Caucus Foundation

Sebastian Castellanos
Research Lead
New Urban Mobility Alliance (NUMO)

Events on our Radar:
Changing the TIDE in Transportation
February 22, Noon to 2 PM CTTIDE stands for Transparency, Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity, and these four goals will shape the discussion at this Webinar series on equity and the Black experience in transportation hosted by the Council of University Transportation Centers.
The inaugural event on Monday features thought leaders from industry, government, and academia including Neil Pederson, Executive Director of the Transportation Research Board, Dorval Carter Jr., President of the Chicago Transit Association, and Jacky Grimshaw, Vice President for Government Affairs at the Center for Neighborhood Technology and a long-time friend of SUMC. Register here.
All eyes on California at CALSTART’s 2-day policy summit
Nonprofit consortium CALSTART, co-administrators of the Clean Mobility Options Voucher Pilot Program along with SUMC, is hosting its 2-day policy summit on Feb 23-24. This virtual event will focus on how California can achieve its bold climate goals. Learn more and sign up.
Winter in Chicago is perfect timing for a film fest about bicycles.
Active Trans hosts their annual celebration of cycling cinema from February 24 – March 7. Purchase your ride pass here.

Mobility Justice

Inconsistent assistance on transit is the main pain point for transit-dependent riders with disabilities, found this new report from London’s Cross River Partnership on “Mobility Justice and Transit Inclusivity.”

35 Latinx environmental justice advocacy groups are calling for the Biden Administration to deliver zero-emission mobility for Latinx communities nationwide. Considering Communities of Color breathe more air pollution and are more likely to suffer adverse health effects, we agree.

Today, equity is defined as a fundamental justice formed by inclusive solutions by and for those who have been historically marginalized. Of course, Presidents have defined it differently throughout history, with very unjust results.

Ridehailing/Carsharing/Carpooling 

Uber may have popularized the idea of ridehailing but Chinese player Didi Chuxing made it profitable with a market that includes more dense metros that keep car ownership low, license-plate restrictions, and a high-speed rail network that would make Europeans do a double-take.

Hailing a driverless ride just got easier in DC with Optimus Ride’s new electric and autonomous service at waterfront development The Yards with stops at Capitol Hill and Barrack’s Row.

EVENT: States are preempting cities on transportation tech such as ridehailing services, autonomous vehicles, and scooters, but not without an assessment by Transportation Expert David Zipper, NACTO Executive Director Corinne Kisner, and Transportation Director for the City of Austin Rob Spillar. Watch it on March 5, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EST.

Bikesharing & Micromobility

Memo: Bikes need safe parking too. In New York at least, Shabazz Stuart’s Oonee bike-parking pods have you covered with two Oonee Mini pods being deployed as part of a pilot with scooter startup Voi.

Moped-sharing startup Revel jumps on the e-bike with a new monthly subscription service that offers pedal-assist e-bikes for $99 per month, which include perks like dropoff, pickup, maintenance, and repairs.

Contrary to previous criticisms of the walking and biking infrastructure in London’s low-traffic neighborhoods, they have not slowed down emergency services according to freedom of information requests submitted by Cycling UK. Walk and roll on, Londoners.

Five UK towns can connect to Beryl’s shared bikes, e-scooters, and e-bikes without a hitch thanks to a new partnership with Moovit that lets users locate Beryl’s micromobility offerings in the Moovit app.

Transit

Measuring public transportation performance focuses on ridership numbers, not the access that the transit service provides. Some say it’s high time for a switch.

Here comes the sun, Philly transit riders, with the now up and running Elk Hill solar farm that’ll help generate about 10% of SEPTA’s electricity needs—a vital gain for sustainability efforts in Pennsylvanian public transportation.

LA Metro has two proposals up for consideration, a monorail and a heavy rail line, that would run through the Sepulveda Pass, connecting the city’s Westside and San Fernando Valley as part of the Sepulveda Transit Corridor project.

Technology

Want to pay your transit fare? Google it. Need a place to park? Google it. The search giant now has Passport and ParkMobile integration to make this possible in over 400 cities in the US and 80+ transit systems worldwide, respectively.

Mobility-as-a-service platform Trafi brings its one-stop transportation shop to Bogota so residents will soon be able to plan, pay, and book rides on local buses, trams, taxis, and e-bikes.

City Monitor asks what driverless cars are meant to do and what problem they will feasibly solve in this piece that looks at the reality of autonomous vehicles and the timeline for reaching true autonomy.

Sustainability

As President Biden put it, if we don’t act fast on the need to upgrade our infrastructure, foreign countries are going to “eat our lunch.” “They’re investing billions of dollars dealing with a whole range of issues that relate to transportation, the environment and a whole range of other things. We just have to step up.”

Mobility hubs, transit expansion, and transport behavior programs are fresh on Edinburgh’s mind with the unveiling of their ten-year City Mobility Plan to nurture sustainable options for people and goods. Aye.

Transportation savant and trailblazer Sam Schwartz took a socially-distanced stroll with Sidewalk Talk editors to discuss the proliferation and continuation of the human-centered street design that Schwartz developed in and around New York City in the ’70s and beyond.

Project Funding Opportunities

New this week:
RFP: Low or No Emission Grant Program Competitive Funding Opportunity
Federal Transit Administration
Deadline: April 12, 2021
*
RFP: Multi-modal Corridor Plan
Missoula Metropolitan Planning Organization and the City of Missoula
Missoula, MT
Deadline: March 1, 2021

RFP: Paratransit Demand Response Services—ADA Complementary “ARide”
Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority
Deadline: March 3, 2021

RFP: MNIT/MnDOT MaaS
Minnesota Department of Transportation and Minnesota IT Services
Saint Paul, MN
Deadline: March 25, 2021

SUMC is hiring!

We’re looking for a temporary bookkeeping and administrative assistant with long-term potential.

Learn more & apply

Hello everyone, we heard your feedback and are trying out a new look.
Tell us what you think.

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

YouTube

Share the Mobility Hub: