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
New on the Learning Center:
COVID-19 AND MOBILITY RESOURCE HOMEPAGE
In the last few months, the Shared-Use Mobility Center MOD Learning Center has released a series of case studies that examine how cities and transportation sectors have been impacted by the virus.
Today we’re announcing the launch of the COVID-19 and Mobility Resource Homepage to guide cities, transit agencies, and shared mobility operators, as they make decisions moving out of the pandemic.
Inside, you’ll find:
- Series of Three COVID-19 and Mobility Case Study Status Updates
- Case Study on Pop-Up Mobility Paths & Open Streets due to COVID-19 Crisis
- External Resources from Federal Transit Administration, as well as Best Practices and City Guides, and Trackers Detailing City Responses to COVID-19
Visit the COVID-19 and Mobility Resource Homepage
Thank you for the overwhelming interest in Clean Mobility Options
Funds for the California Clean Mobility Options (CMO) Community Transportation Needs Assessment Vouchers have been exhausted. On June 1, the CMO Program Administrator began accepting applications from disadvantaged communities for $50,000 grants to engage residents around transportation challenges and inequities, to be awarded on a first-come, first-serve basis. As of June 2, the $1 million available in this window has been fully subscribed, and more than 20 communities will be receiving funds shortly.
You can still apply for CMO Mobility Project Vouchers to implement zero-emission transit and shared mobility options in underserved California communities when the application period opens—tentatively scheduled for November 2020.
To access technical assistance to develop your Mobility Project Voucher application, please complete this form. For other questions about the program, email [email protected].
The Clean Mobility Options program is administered by the Shared-Use Mobility Center and CALSTART in partnership with GRID Alternatives and the Local Government Commission. The program is supported by the California Air Resources Board with funding from California Climate Investments.
Mobility Justice
‘Quick build’ projects that aim to boost walkability, open public spaces, and promote cycling can do more harm than good in disenfranchised communities—if the local public isn’t engaged from the start and their feedback taken into account.
The Black Urbanist Founder and Editor in Chief Kristen Jeffers sits down with Streetsblog to discuss how the built environment in cities can fail to address racial and rural equity and what the term “urbanist” means in the reclamation of public space.
“Just having a bike lane or a sidewalk is not enough to guarantee the safety of a Black person in our community,” said Caila Brown, executive director of Bike Walk Savannah. Read how mobility justice goes hand in hand with racial justice on Connect Savannah.
A diversity statement isn’t enough, say BICPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) leaders as they push for stronger anti-racist action in the transportation landscape and in their communities.
Ridehailing/Carsharing/Carpooling
As most business and public spaces are opening up in China as the country recovers from the coronavirus outbreak, mobility giant Didi Chuxing is seeing ridehailing trips this month hit last year’s pre-pandemic levels.
Uber, on the other hand, is only seeing minimal increases in ridehailing trips with business still down 70% from last year, only a slight improvement from its low point during the pandemic.
Facebook and Paypal have invested undisclosed amounts to Indonesian ridehailing and mobility company Gojek as the Southeast Asian region shows promising growth for digital services and on-demand platforms.
Singaporean carsharing outfit Smove, one of the major players in the country, is shutting down its service with strained financial trouble being the culprit.
Bikesharing and Micromobility
Micromobility company Superpedestrian is launching an EV dockless scooter service called Link after acquiring “substantially all of the assets” of bikeshare company Zagster, spelling the essential end of Zagster’s mark in the mobility space.
A message for cities that have temporarily shuttered bikeshare (and micromobility) services: two wheels aren’t tools for violence, they are integral transportation options for healthcare workers and essential employees.
Detroit’s MoGo bikeshare has expanded into the northwest area of the city and southern Oakland County with 31 stations and 140 bikes, nearly doubling the system.
Toronto announced that it will be expanding its bikeshare system with 1,850 new bikes and 160 new stations (expanding the network area to about 200 square km) to give residents safer and more sustainable ways of getting around.
Transit
If transit access can’t get people who live in far-flung suburbs or more rural areas to jobs, then it isn’t regionally equitable. Crain’s Chicago tells the story of Amorita Falcon and her experience commuting for four hours, round trip, to her job downtown using the bus.
It’s no surprise that public transit is still facing worldwide challenges addressing ridership declines and health safety protocols while functioning as essential transportation for workers. Digital Trends looks at what agencies can do to weather the uncertain future of a post-COVID mobility environment.
New Jersey Transit has a new five-year capital plan, to the tune of around $6 billion, and a 10-year strategic plan to give public transportation a large boost in funding to address train and bus reliability and safety.
As the city moves into a phased reopening, New York commuters are dipping their toes into riding mass transit again with the MTA taking extra precautions to ensure that sanitation and social distancing are a top priority for public health.
Technology
The ACLU has filed a suit against the City of Los Angeles over the Department of Transportation’s Mobility Data Specification platform, accusing the city’s collection of data around EV scooter-sharing services as being unconstitutional.
Google Maps has new features, available in the US and in several countries around the world, that give travelers information about COVID-19 travel restrictions, health safety checkpoints, and transit updates that include any safety precautions such as mask requirements.
The bastion of an autonomous future predicts a world where vehicle crashes are essentially nonexistent, but researchers from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety believe that, after examining 5,000+ police-reported crashes, hitting the ultimate zero fatality rate isn’t such a straightforward approach.
Even though the pandemic has ground many transportation industry projects to a halt, the New York MTA announced that it will complete installation of the new, contactless, OMNY fare payment system at all subway stations and buses by the end of the year.
Sustainability
With retail, manufacturing, and travel down across the board due to the ongoing pandemic, GHG emissions in the US are set to see a 14% decrease compared to last year, according to data from the Energy Information Administration.
What can cities, planners, and developers do to make sure communities have access to affordable living options while receiving the benefits of having access to public transit options for better job and amenity connection? Equitable transit-oriented development (or eTOD for short) could hold the answer.
When the pandemic hit cities across the US, planners and engineers had to make tough decisions on how transportation and traffic networks could be reimagined to create a more resilient system. Now, cities are reworking street design, traffic-calming measures, and infrastructure needs to keep people moving safely while shooting for broader sustainability goals.
Boston-based energy company Enel X has expanded its EV charging network throughout Europe to 30,000+ public charging points, nearly tripling the system, as part of a new collaboration with Allego, Bosch and Innogy.
Requests for Proposals, Inquiries, and Information
RFP: Request for Proposals for Paratransit Services
Green Mountain Transit Authority
St. Albans, VT
Deadline: June 17, 2020
Email Matt Kimball for RFP at [email protected]
RFI: Transit Technology Assistance
Oregon Department of Transportation
Salem, OR
Deadline: July 1, 2020
RFP: Paratransit and Flex Route Services
City of DeKalb
DeKalb, IA
Deadline: July 16, 2020
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