The Mobility Hub

Your weekly guide to the latest in shared mobility

SUMC News and Announcements

 

The 2021 Summit schedule is yours to explore

This year, we’re shifting the system one session at a time. From speakers and hosts to descriptions and themes, you can dive into The Big Shift, and register for all of it right now. (Can’t attend everything? Don’t worry, we’re recording it.)

And we’re not done yet.

More speakers and sessions, as well as the lineup for our Echo Thursday sessions, are coming next—and we’re flipping power structures and passing the spotlight to the real stories of mobility justice at a very special Thursday event.

You already know our newest board member, Stefanie Brodie, Ph.D.

Stefanie Brodie, PhD
Research Practice Lead
Toole Design

You met her at our Transportation Inflection Reflection back in February—if you didn’t already know her for her brilliant research and expertise incorporating equity into transportation planning and policy.

Now, SUMC is lucky enough to have Stefanie as our newest member of our Board of Directors. Her insight into developing equity frameworks and incorporating equity and other social sustainability considerations into decision-making will keep us leaping forward.

Read her full bio on the SUMC site.

New on the SUMC Learning Center: Brief overviews on micromobility

Now that we are well into the Spring season, communities are sprucing up their micromobility offerings. Read more about Boulders’ new micromobility regulationsAlbany’s seasonal bikeshare system, and New York City’s e-scooter pilot.

Webinar of note: 
Getting ready (finally) to build local climate resilience
Tuesday, May 18, 1 PM EST/12 PM CT

Join the Maryland Department of Planning and the Smart Growth Network for this discussion on building resilience in your neck of the woods. Participants are eligible for 1.5 AICP CM credits. Register here.

Mobility Justice

The construction of Interstate 94 in Minnesota tore through hundreds of Black-owned homes and businesses in St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood, destroying lives and livelihoods. Now, a local nonprofit wants to build a five-block “land bridge” over a portion of the highway to reconnect the divided community.

How can we make sure equity isn’t an afterthought in mobility programs? Nelson\Nygaard shares five key steps to making transportation demand management inclusive and tailored for those historically burdened with fewer mobility options.

Evading a bus fare shouldn’t cost you your driver’s license, but for those with lower-incomes it can. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is proposing to fix that in a move that follows Gov. Charlie Baker’s decriminalization of fare evasion back in January.

Ridehailing/Carsharing/Carpooling 

Lyft and Uber are answering the Biden administration’s call to increase vaccination in the US to 70% of the population by offering free rides to vaccine locations—until July 4th that is.

Not long ago, skepticism arose that Ugandan motorcycle ridehailing startup SafeBoda wouldn’t fare well against transportation giants entering the contentious ‘boda boda’ market—but years later it stands head and shoulders above the competition and sees no slowdown in sight.

A new demand-response service from the Gold Coast Transit District in California has launched with a focus on late rides to help night workers get reliable, safe transportation from 8 – 11 p.m., and it takes both cash and Token Transit e-fares.

Bikesharing & Micromobility

It must be the year of mobility SPACs with micromobility giant Bird joining the trend with a rumored plan to use a special purpose acquisition company to go public at a sweet valuation of $2.3 billion, reports dot.LA.

A new analysis that surveyed 11 countries worldwide shows that when more women cycle, everyone else follows. Sadly, the US has both a pitifully low cycling rate generally (people take a bike for just 1.1% of trips) and with women (0.6% of their trips by two wheels), but infrastructure with intent could change that.

Hoboken is joining Jersey City in a newly launched “unified bikeshare program” operated by CitiBike —and it sports 82 docking stations and over 800 bikeshare vehicles, including a mix of tried-and-true pedal bikes and pedal-assist e-bikes.

Transit

The harmlessly named Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices actually limits the potential of dedicated bus lanes in the US with constrictive mandates on where and how they can be implemented. Sit back and take it, TransitCenter is not and the foundation calls on you to submit your comments on the draft manual ASAP.

In an effort to encourage multimodal transit, the Central Ohio Transit Authority is sharing transit information with Lyft riders in Columbus via the ridehail company’s app—and bike riders take note, it’s available in Lyft’s CoGo Bike Share too.

Ontario will see an influx of $10 billion to expand four subway projects in the Greater Toronto Area, announced Prime Minister Trudeau, which will “create thousands of good jobs and get gridlock traffic off the roads.”

Technology

Stantec and the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada are leading a new program called GoMed, which plans to improve mobility in the Las Vegas Medical District with autonomous shuttles, and they’re keying in on safety, accessibility, and equity.

Ford Mobility City:One challenge winner Tappy Guide (currently in beta) is an app that uses a smartphone’s microphone, camera, and GPS to help people with disabilities or mobility impairments navigate public spaces—leading to the overarching question, why didn’t we have this before?

The first contactless payment system for public transit in California is live and hands-free with Monterey-Salinas Transit enabling the tap-to-pay feature for its bus network, thanks to the Caltrans-led California Integrated Travel Project.

Sustainability

In an interview with The Verge, USDOT Secretary Buttigieg promotes future proofing our infrastructure to keep carbon emissions at bay while expanding clean transportation options through subsidies and federal backing.

Businesses like restaurants were wary of open street programs after the pandemic hit, “but where will customers park?”, but Yelp data shows that customer activity actually went up when cities created safer space for people instead of cars.

Marking a big win for street safety in New York, the city is reducing the speed limit on 45-miles of busy roads by 5-to 10 mph in an effort to slash reckless driving and protect bicyclists and pedestrians.

Project Funding Opportunities

RFP: Center for Pan Asian Community Services Microtransit Program
Center for Pan Asian Community Services
Atlanta, GA
Deadline: May 19, 2021

RFP: Michigan Active Communities Programming
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services
Detroit, MI
Deadline: May 28, 2021

RFP: Vehicle Electrification Advisory Services for Fleets Pilot Program
Massachusetts Clean Energy Center
Deadline: June 14, 2021

Notice of Funding: Pilot Program for Transit-Oriented
Development Planning FY2021

Federal Transit Administration
Deadline: June 21, 2021

We’d like to thank the following sponsors for their support
of the 2021 National Shared Mobility Summit.

Interested in sponsorship? (Yay!) Take a look at the options.

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