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.
SUMC News and Announcements
SUMC is busy working on MOD Learning Center case studies, insightful articles, and shared mobility updates we can’t wait to share. Until then, you can dive into the latest shared mobility news and new RFI and RFPs below.
Webinars On Our Radar
Between Two Futures: How Can Transit Investment be a Tool for Equity?
ITS America
August 10, 2020, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm CDT
Transit systems around the country are struggling to maintain vital services in these unprecedented times. How are transportation leaders using the equity lens to make critical investment and policy decisions? This webinar will talk to leaders of transit systems in Delaware, Columbus (OH), Las Vegas, and Philadelphia.
REGISTER
Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) 2020 Annual Event: #BuildBackBetter
September 15, 2020, Noon – 12:45 p.m. CDT
MPC is honoring one of Chicago’s foremost corporate citizens, John W. Rogers, Jr., co-CEO of Ariel Investments, with the 2020 MPC Champion Fighter Award. John’s extraordinary contributions to racial equity and business diversity have had a transformative impact on countless institutions.
Attendance is open to everyone, but you must register by September 13, 2020.
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Mobility Justice
On the 30th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Eno Center for Transportation reflects on the legislation’s influence on public transportation accessibility, and how the universal design practices it spawned can benefit all users.
Chicago alderman Matt Martin spoke at a recent 47th Ward Transportation and Infrastructure Budget Town Hall, updating residents about plans to create safer, more equitable streets by prioritizing biking, walking, and transit use over single-occupancy driving.
Listening to community concerns about transportation and mobility justice isn’t enough. Power needs to be shared with communities to decide what initiatives will work best, explains Naomi Doerner, principal and director of equity, diversity, and inclusion at Nelson/Nygaard, in The Movement podcast.
Urban renewal? Highways created physical barriers that erased historically black communities like Paradise Valley and Black Bottom in Detroit. Tear them down, writes the Detroit Free Press.
Ridehailing/Carsharing/Carpooling
The US House has passed Sami’s Law, a bill that requires ridehailing companies to use a form of digital driver verification for better passenger safety, after Samantha Josephson was killed last year by a man posing as her Uber driver in Columbia, SC,
Lyft’s car rental service, which debuted last December, is expanding to Las Vegas, Miami, and Seattle with a new partnership with car rental company Sixt.
Hyundai’s MoceanLab carsharing outfit based in LA will provide low-emission hybrid vehicles to USC Keck School of Medicine’s Street Medicine Team to provide basic medical and mental health services to the homeless.
Kia Motors has launched a new mobility-focused startup called Purple M that offers customizable, electric transportation-as-a-service in the Korean market.
Bikesharing and Micromobility
The UK is investing £2 billion ($2.57 billion) in a new government organization that will promote cycling and walking as tools to boost public health, reduce obesity and car-dependency, and cut pollution.
Kane County, IL has a new pool of shared wheels through the Fox Valley Bike Share System and they’re ready for people to ride, thanks to a partnership with mobility operator Koloni and local organizations.
Fancy 1,400 miles of off-road bike and pedestrian trails? Well, that may be in the works soon due to a new proposed plan from the Transportation Planning Board of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments that would expand the network of active pathways in the greater Washington region.
Geospatial Data Scientist at Wells + Associates Matthew Holden pours over Capital Bikeshare ridership data to analyze the pandemic’s impact on DC’s bikeshare system, unearthing a decline of 36% compared to March of 2019.
Transit
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the FY21 minibus bill with $18.9 billion in budgetary appropriations for the Federal Transit Administration as part of a total of $107.2 billion for the US Department of Transportation.
Speaking of funding, Caltrans will boost their Low Carbon Transit Operations Program with an approved $146 million to finance 166 local public transportation projects for reducing emissions and creating more sustainable systems—particularly in disadvantaged communities.
The Bay Area Transportation Authority has started a new on-demand microtransit service, called Link On-Demand, in Traverse City, MI that will run as a pilot until July 31 of next year, giving locals a more seamless variety of mobility options.
Technology
In the next five years, you could see upwards of 2,700 new fast chargers all over the US thanks to a new partnership between GM and electric vehicle charging network EVgo.
Researchers out of UK’s Aston University have developed software that uses route optimization algorithms, similar to how ant colonies share knowledge on the best solutions for a task, that would save time and fuel costs for commercial fleets while halving vehicle emissions.
How to keep to the rising sales of EVs from becoming gigawatt-sized challenges for the power grid? As the National Renewable Energy Laboratory reports, it’s a combination of EV-charging control strategies, grid integration, scenario simulation, and alternative energy sources like hydrogen fuel cell technology.
Lithium-ion batteries are a hot commodity in today’s (thankfully) clean-energy focused transportation industry. Since EV battery supplies need to be managed strategically, let’s electrify transit buses and commercial trucks before personal automobiles.
Sustainability
The persistent threat of climate change has spawned decade-spanning plans in countries all over the world to rebuild our spaces as resilient, sustainable networks that bank on renewable processes and energy. The US, writes Fortune, must follow with immediate green infrastructure recovery strategies to adapt.
COVID Mobility Works has gathered a collection of global insights and program examples of street reallocation plans that give bicyclists and pedestrians a greater right of way on city streets.
Local organizations like the Inner-City Muslim Action Network are reinventing Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood with grassroots efforts that will adaptively reuse old buildings for public health, housing, job training, and green space programs. What’s first on the bill? A new produce-focused market that features flexible space for community events and job training.
“Neglecting the human component is by far the worst mistake that an aspiring smart city can do.” Learn about human-centric approaches to smart city development and how technology can play a role in civic innovation on ArchDaily.
Requests for Proposals, Inquiries, and Information
RFI: Creative Uses for Utilizing Existing Curbside Electric, Telecommunications, and Electric Vehicle Infrastructure
City of Indianapolis
Indianapolis, IN
Deadline: August 14, 2020
RFI: Comprehensive Transit Technology Solution
Metro Transit
Madison, WI
Deadline: August 31, 2020
RFP: Specialized ADA Transportation Services: Southern Region Los Angeles County
Access Services
Los Angeles, CA
Deadline: September 17, 2020
(Registration required)
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