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
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National Shared Mobility Summit
March 17 – 19, 2020 | Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, Chicago
Join leaders and innovators from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors for three days of collaboration on the solutions, technology, and spaces that will define shared mobility in the years ahead.
Check out the newest speakers and preview two exciting panels!
Dorval Carter
President
Chicago Transportation Authority
Stephanie Pollack
Secretary and CEO
Massachusetts Department of Transportation
Gary Thomas
President/Executive Director
Dallas Area Rapid Transit
John Andoh
Executive Director/CEO
The Comet: Central Midlands Transit
Jake Sion
COO
Transitapp
Tony Dutzkik
Associate Director, Sr. Policy Analyst
Frontier Group
Isaac Reichman
Director of Public Information
Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, City of Chicago
Courtney Kashima
Founding Principal
Muse Community + Design
Free Transit! and Other ‘Radical’ ideas
Transit agencies have long faced headlines of declining ridership, and buses often take the blame. But some cities are turning around both narratives with innovative interventions. This panel will feature today’s transit innovators discussing their programs and sharing real-world guidance from active projects and pilots, including KCATA’s free transit experiment, NYC’s 14th Street Busway project that closes the street to cars, IndyGo’s groundbreaking bus network redesign and marketing campaign, and Lynda Lopez’s Fair Fairs campaign to bring discounted fares for low-income transit riders in the Chicagoland region.
Moderator: Tony Garcia, Principle, Street Plans Collaborative
Panelists: Jameson Auten, Vice President, Regional Service Delivery and Innovation, KCATA
Jerome Horne, Ridership Experience Specialist, IndyGo
Aaron Sugiura, Director of Transit Policy & Planning, NYC DOT
Lynda Lopez, Advocacy Manager, Active Transportation Alliance
Local Options: How Bloomberg American Cities Climate Challenge Cities are Fighting Carbon Emissions
Three cities participating in Bloomberg Philanthropies’ American Cities Climate Challenge share strategies and lessons learned in slashing greenhouse gas emissions from their local transportation systems while creating more equitable access to transportation options. The panel will begin with an overview of the American Cities Climate Challenge and how 25 U.S. cities are collectively working to meet the U.S.’ international climate change commitment through the Paris Agreement. Then three participating cities – Austin, TX; Chicago, IL; and Denver, CO – will review the transportation projects supported by the Climate Challenge that will increase mobility and combat carbon emissions.
Moderator: Mary Nicol, Climate Advisor for City of Chicago
Panelists: Julie Anderson, TDM Program Coordinator, City of Austin
Jennifer Henry, Planner, Chicago Transit Authority
Nick Williams, Deputy Chief of Staff, Public Works, City of Denver
Ridehailing/Carsharing/Carpooling
Uber’s response to the recently enacted AB5 gig-worker rights bill is to have select drivers set their own fares in Santa Barbara, Sacramento, and Palm Springs, CA.
Massachusetts Governor Baker has proposed raising ridehail fees from 20 cents to $1 per ride as part of the region’s new $44.6 billion budget plan to help fund transit.
After years of being left out, Lyft and Uber finally make their return as ridehailing options in Vancouver and other parts of British Columbia.
LA Metro is extending its ridehailing program with Via after seeing over 70,000 rides completed since launching last January, exceeding the expected goals.
Partnerships and Programs
Lime, DHL, Amazon, Siemens, and others have formed the Corporate Electric Vehicle Alliance, a new collective focused on moving EV development forward for corporate and commercial fleets in the US.
The US Department of Energy announced $300 million in funding opportunities for emerging and innovative sustainable transportation “resources and technologies”.
Bus rapid transit and pedestrian and biking enhancements are coming to Portland thanks to $87.4 million in funding from TriMet’s Division Transit Project.
The FTA wants to boost no-and-low emission buses across the country with $130 million in competitive grants for public transit. All aboard a greener bus.
Bikesharing and Micromobility
LeBron James biked his way to basketball greatness, so his company, Uninterrupted, is partnering with Lyft to give away free, one-year bikeshare memberships to disadvantaged teens around the US.
Check out this Q&A between Smart Cities Dive and Bird’s Head of Sustainability Melinda Hanson covering the future of sustainable micromobility and reclaiming streets for two wheels.
In a bid to clean up sidewalk clutter and manage dockless parking, 100 scooter parking zones will be installed in DC—not on sidewalks, but curb-side on city streets.
Speaking of parking your two wheels: if cities plan to get more people on bikes, then more dedicated, protected parking storage such as the Oonee bike facility in Brooklyn are needed so people aren’t worried about losing their green commute machine.
Transit
A new report from TransitCenter lays out the issues around Nashville’s attempted transit referendum from 2018 that led to failure, citing tight deadlines and little-to-no input from local communities as the daggers in the ballot’s back.
20 new transit lines are coming in 2020, to the US, Canada, and Mexico, and 60 more transit expansions are slated for 2026. Check out the map and locations on Transport Politic, and thanks to Overhead Wire for the story.
It’s been proven time and time again: better transit is better for everyone’s commute—even drivers. New York’s historic 14th St. Busway also shows that when you give buses their own lane, cyclists and bikeshare users can benefit from car-free streets.
If you want to get people to use more transit, you have to provide safe, functional walkways and sidewalks to transit. The Chicago Tribune points out that this is not always the case.
Technology
Check out The Verge’s exclusive look at autonomous vehicle company Cruise’s self-driving “people mover” called Origin that was designed with no steering wheel or pedals.
Uber has announced it will be testing self-driving car and HD mapping tech in DC and that the first phase of testing with human drivers to collect street data is done.
A new app called UrSafe wants to help women and sexual assault survivors feel safer while using ridehailing apps with options such as voice-activated SOS and geo-located 911 features that can be shared with close friends or family.
LAYER, a design company out of the UK, has reimagined shared ridehail trips with a new futuristic concept that pushes for sustainability, modularity, and tech-focused amenities.
Urban Sustainability
Making transit, cycling and walking more fun and enjoyable can do wonders for boosting clean transportation’s image. A few cities around the world have done this by jazzing up bus stops to look otherworldly, adding swing sets to public spaces, and using clever marketing to get people excited to use sustainable modes.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo wants the city to be “100 percent bicycle” and transform the city center to be as bike-and-pedestrian friendly as possible while hoping to make more streets car free.
LA officials want more “Transit-Oriented Communities” and is encouraging developers and business leaders to put more affordable housing options near Metro rail and bus lines.
Tear down a highway, watch a neighborhood transform. Congress for New Urbanism breaks down the removal of the Park East Freeway in Milwaukee that changed the area from a blighted, split community to a corridor with vibrant development.
Requests for Proposals, Inquiries, and Information
Bedford Park RFQ is a first/last mile solution to a unique problem
The Village of Bedford Park, outside of Chicago, is an industrial suburb where jobs outnumber residents by more than 50 to 1. With the support of Cook County, the Village has been studying ways to improve workers’ commutes around the clock. A new pilot, Connect2Work, aims to increase transit connections and job access with shared mobility services. SUMC, along with team members Antero Group and the Active Transportation Alliance, is providing technical assistance for the project and encourages transportation and technology providers to apply.
View the RFQ below.
RFQ: Connect2Work
The Village of Bedford Park, Illinois
Bedford Park, Illinois
Deadline: February 14, 2020
RFI: Transportation Network Services for Eligible Individuals with Disabilities
Indianapolis Public Transportation Corporation
Deadline: February 10, 2020
RFP: Accelerating Clean Transportation Now (ACTNow)
Massachusetts Clean Energy Center
Boston, MA
Deadline: March 3, 2020
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