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
This year we’re focused on policies for people and platforms for change. Join us at the Summit and create a new climate for mobility and equity.
Register today for an early-bird discount!
You’re Invited: Shared-Use Mobility Center Open House
December 5, 2019 | 6:00 to 8:00 PM Central | Chicago Connectory
Stop by for food and drink, learn about the pilot projects we work on across the country in shared mobility and transit, and meet the Shared-Use Mobility Center team. Hear about some of our new findings and results from electric carshare in LA, rural pilots for connecting multiple agencies for trip planning, our work on microtransit, our many first/last mile projects, our newest research on micromobility, and more!
Where is the Shared-Use Mobility Center?
Minneapolis, MN | Shared Mobility Collaborative Quarterly Convening
November 14, 2019
Shared-Use Mobility Center (SUMC) Program Manager Alvaro Villagran presented at the Convening of the Shared Mobility Collaborative on the mobility service that has the potential to boost ridership for transit agencies while filling first/last mile transit gaps and addressing accessibility concerns: Microtransit.
Speaking to Twin Cities leaders, he gave an overview of on-demand, multi-passenger transportation services. He then described lessons learned from SUMC’s technical assistance work developing mobility on demand pilot projects as well as extensive SUMC-assisted pilots and projects, and ended with examples from Seattle’s Via to Transit and from two Mobility on Demand On-Ramp agencies, the Maryland Department of Transportation and the Memphis Area Transportation Authority.
Download the presentation.
Ridehailing/Carsharing/Carpooling
Lyft’s Express Drive car-rental service for ridehail drivers has just received an influx of 200 long-range EVs in Colorado in a move to lower emissions on the road.
NYC ridehailing player Juno, which was acquired by Gett in 2017, is shutting down for good, citing the city’s new minimum-wage regulations as the issue. A new partnership between Gett and Lyft, however, will allow users in the US to book Lyft rides through the Gett app.
To reduce the use of higher-polluting vehicles in the UK, Enterprise Car Club has adopted a shared-asset model with Liftshare technology that allows coworkers to share lower-emission vehicles when parked.
MoceanLab is Hyundai’s new carsharing outfit in LA that will pilot 20 Hyundai Ioniq plug-in hybrids, with long-term plans to transition to 300 fully electric vehicles.
Partnerships and Programs
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has announced Urban Movement Labs, a public-private partnership with LADOT, L.A. Cleantech Incubator, Lyft, Verizon, Waymo, and others to “develop, test, and build transportation solutions.” Will it make a dent in LA traffic and emissions?
One airport connection just got easier: the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will be offering flat-rate shared rides from LaGuardia to Manhattan, Brooklyn, and elsewhere in Queens, with shared ridehailing operator Via.
Chicago’s Pace Suburban Bus is launching a new program to offer subsidized ridehail and taxi rides to late-night shift workers to help close last mile gaps at O’Hare airport’s cargo facility.
City officials from counties across the Detroit region met to set in motion a comprehensive regional transit strategy they’re readying to bring this plan to voters in November 2020.
Bikesharing and Micromobility
Lyft is scaling back its scooter operations in six sizable metro areas in the US, citing low ridership, while shifting focus to cities where they can “have the biggest impact.”
Design it right, and they will ride on two wheels. Read this contributed article from the head of Public Affairs at Bird about how cities are shifting from car-centric streets to multimodal thoroughfares that provide space for more people walking, biking, and taking new micromobility options.
Maybe the fourth time’s the charm with bikeshare in Rome. Uber has launched its pedal-assist JUMP bikes in the ancient city but skeptics fear that vandalism and theft will plague the latest dockless mobility attempt.
Bikesharing in America traveled from big cities to rural areas, a path that Better Bike Share highlights, while showing how some programs have overcome common implementation barriers.
Transit
Chicago’s Active Transportation Alliance calls for “Fair Fares” on the CTA, Metra, and Pace to make sustainable mobility more equitable, but underfunded transit agencies balk at the cost.
Metro Detroit is seemingly at odds with itself, boosting bus fleets and mass transit options while maintaining the belief, at least in the eyes of some officials, that the personal car and ridehailing can completely fix transportation woes.
Electric buses are energizing cities around the US as transit agencies focus on cleaner ways to efficiently move people around, and key players in the sustainable transportation space help EV buses gain more attention.
In African nations like Uganda and Kenya, informal paratransit networks still dominate the public transportation landscape even as cities invest in new bus rapid transit infrastructure and fleets.
Technology
Microsoft and Moovit are partnering up with accessibility platform Aira to help people with visual impairment seamlessly navigate public transport and multimodal mobility options, using Aira’s voice-based services.
Vancouver recently held its Decode Congestion Hackathon that called on area programmers to find solutions for clogged city streets and transportation networks using various types of data tools and tech. Learn how participating students, transportation professionals, and companies worked to hack congestion on Smart Cities Dive.
Cleaned, serviced, and fully charged, all without a human driver. Volvo and public transport company Keolis are prototyping electric and autonomous buses that can move themselves around parking bays and work station depots.
Big Blue Bus and its fare payment operator Token Transit are integrating with the Transit app in Santa Monica to let users buy Single Ride passes for more efficient mobile ticketing options, with plans for all pass types to be available in Transit by Q4 2020.
Urban Sustainability
VIDEO: Check out this on-the-bus chat between Streetsblog writer John Greenfield and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot about the need for congestion pricing and ways it can revolutionize how Chicagoans get around in the region.
Bloomberg takes a deep dive into California’s affordable housing crisis, how it came to be, and what cities, agencies, companies, and advocates are doing now to lift the state’s housing market out of its decades-running slump.
The conversation around the differences between urban centers and the suburbs continues to shift as economic environments and cultural trendstransform racial and ethnic demographics in cities around the US.
LA County found that 82% of park-poor areas—neighborhoods with limited or no access to public parks—are located within communities of color. To reverse this, city officials and green-space activists are making sure community residents have a say in the look and function of public space.
Requests for Proposals, Inquiries, and Information
RFP: Proposals for Mobility Study
Greater Lafayette Public Transportation Corporation
Lafayette, Indiana
Deadline: December 9, 2019
RFP: Carpool and Ridematching Solutions
Commuters Trust
The City of South Bend, Indiana
Deadline: December 23, 2019
RFP: Sepulveda Transit Corridor Project
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Los Angeles County
Deadline: April 1, 2020
Access the RFP here.
RFP: Accelerating Clean Transportation Solutions
Massachusetts Clean Energy Center
Boston, Massachusetts
Deadline: March 3, 2020
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