Here? There? Everywhere? (a.k.a. Does MaaS need Mobility Hubs?)
12:15 – 1:00 PM

Do we need physical and spatial cues to use shared mobility when we design digitally-driven transportation? We’ll look at the role of space, place, and location in making shared-use mobility accessible to everyone.

Show Me the Numbers: Measuring and Encoding Equity
12:15 – 1:00 PM

Are our shared mobility services working for the historically marginalized and excluded? Do we have the data we need to measure equity and equitable outcomes? If not, how do we get it?

Getting From Pilot to Permanent: Moving Shared Mobility From Shiny to Standard
2:45 – 3:30 PM

While innovation is a constant and changes in the industry are continual, what can we learn from the places that started with pilots that then became permanent programs?

How to Save the Planet with Micromobility
2:45 – 3:30 PM

Electric cars won’t save us from the climate crisis but maybe electric micromobility will. If so, what else do we need to build out to expand micromobility use and save the planet?

JOB ALERT: Our friends over at Equiticity are looking for a Mobility Justice Associate to spearhead project management and community organizing for “The Go Hub: A Mobility Community Center” in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood and support participation in the Transportation Equity Network. Raise your hand here.

It’s been deemed a ‘Freeway without a Future’ by the Congress for New Urbanism, but there is potential for a stretch of the I-5 freeway in Seattle—removing it can bring divided neighborhoods back together and restore lost public space for people and communities to enjoy, thrive, and connect.

Data analyst Dale Wunderlich looked at how accessible by wheeling and walking Chicago “L” stations were (based on Redfin data) and found, unsurprisingly, “there’s a strong correlation between the wealth and whiteness of an area surrounding a station and its bike-friendliness and walkability.”

21 rural communities in Oklahoma will have a new mobility option thanks to a partnership between KI BOIS Area Transit System (an FTA IMI Program grantee receiving our technical assistance) and Uber for on-demand and accessible rides.

How can ridehailing expect to go green with electrified fleets if they have nowhere to juice up? A new analysis from Rocky Mountain Institute found that EV charging infrastructure would need to increase by “three to six times by 2030” to meet the needs of EV-owning ridehail drivers.

Rural Hood River, Oregon residents will now have access to shareable electric vehicles around their communities thanks to a new EV carsharing program from Forth called CRuSE that will take on equity and mobility access issues with vehicles placed at affordable housing.

Artists (yes you), help make the next BCycle Art Station in Houston’s East End as vibrant as it is functional by submitting your design proposal. Teams can apply too. Grab more info here and apply before June 18.

The pushback on making Chicago’s scooter program permanent, reported in Block Club Chicago, doesn’t consider that if the city creates more protected micromobility infrastructure and lanes, then riders will stay off sidewalks and make streets safer for everyone.

Whether you want to hop in a hailed ride or jump on a bike, Cabify has you covered with the launch of its multimodal subscription service in Madrid that merges its ridehailing option with MOVO’s micromobility and Bive’s bike-subscription offerings in one app.

The INVEST in America Act has the potential to transform our nation’s public transportation infrastructure for the better, aptly focusing on multimodal mobility and addressing climate change, but the opposition wants the groan-inducing, double-whammy of increased highway funding and a break from the goals of the Biden administration’s American Jobs Plan.

VIDEO: The USDOT Volpe Center hosted Secretary Buttigieg and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology and Chief Science Officer Robert C. Hampshire, PhD on June 2 to share their thoughts on Innovation for a Sustainable, Equitable Transportation System. Watch the event or read a recap.

For Chicago commuters to the Loop, the State and Lake CTA Station is the beating heart of the daily trek—pumping out train-after-train after a century of service—so we’re thrilled with the city’s announcement that it’s on its way to getting a fully accessible ride-friendly redesign. The plan is currently under review.

LACI is actively recruiting mobility companies for a late-stage (Series A and beyond) pilots-focused program beginning in Fall 2021. This is a great chance to leverage a funded pilot in partnership with entities like LA DOT and LA Metro to scale results for a successful Series A or B raise. Existing Market Access companies include Envoy, Urb-E, Circuit, Automotus, and Zoomo.

Slick move there, Google, integrating your trip-planning in Google Maps with your Google-fied robo taxi service from Waymo. But, having to jump from app to app is a slight hurdle.

Would you pay by the hour to have your own car drive itself? Volkswagen is floating this idea—proposed in an interview by one of the automaker’s board members—where drivers would pay around 7€ per hour to buy a self-driving trip over taking hold of the steering wheel themselves.

With pedestrian deaths spiking last year, electrification is not nearly enough to make streets safer for all users, especially considering that EVs are generally heavier than gas guzzlers (according to a new CNN article). If we want safe, sustainable transportation systems, we need better street infrastructure for cyclists and sidewalk users first.

According to the National League of Cities’ State of the Infrastructure Report, all the talk of infrastructure updates is so far just talk after survey data from about 600 communities found that upgrade plans hadn’t materialized over the pandemic due to lack of funds, among other reasons. So can we please approve the American Jobs Plan?

When cities prioritize complete streets for better safety, media outlets cover crashes with more details than, “Bicyclist struck by vehicle”, according to a 2020 study from Bowdoin College in Maine that analyzed “76 local news articles from 2018 and 2019 about crashes involving pedestrians and cyclists.”