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Tag Archives: MicroMobility
World Streets Open 2021 Team Problem-Solving Initiative: Climate/Emergency Mobility/Space Jobs/Work Streets/Cars Private/Shared Vision/Strategy Equity/Women Action/Manage
– – – – – – > Working draft of 1 May 2020
WORLD STREETS is betting its future on the coming immediate-term transition led by certain ambitious, responsible cities, nations, organizations and citizens in different parts of the world to come together to break the downward pattern of ever-increasing climate stress — and before the challenge to plan and execute highly aggressive near-term initiatives aimed at sharply cutting greenhouse gas emissions from the mobility sector. And doing all this while working with proven tools, policies and strategies that harness cost-effective, readily available, measures, technologies, operational and management competence. Our job is to support them as best we can.
CONTEXT/KEYWORDS:: Climate/Emergency Cities/Mobility Vision/Strategy Streets/Cars Time/Space Private/Shared Equity/Women Action/Manage
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- You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. – Buckminster Fuller
THE 2020 FIVE PERCENT CLIMATE/MOBILITY CHALLENGE
Small is beautiful. May we present 2021 Micro-mobility?
In brief:
Micro-mobility is a category of modes of transport that are provided by very light vehicles such as electric scooters, electric skateboards, shared bicycles and electric pedal assisted, pedelec, bicycles. The primary condition for inclusion in the category is a gross vehicle weight of less than 500 kg. Additional conditions are the provision of a motor, primary utility use, and availability as a shared service. (Thanks WP.) Note: Additional graphics below purloined from the net. Creative Commons –
Micro-mobility’s 15,000-mile checkup
January 2019 | Article By Kersten Heineke, Benedikt Kloss, Darius Scurtu, and Florian Weig Source and full text, graphics and links: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/automotive-and-assembly/our-insights/micromobilitys-15000-mile-checkup
SAFE CITY STRATEGIES : MANAGING THE TRANSITION. (Working notes for a 2021 Thinking Exercise)
To fix Sustainable Mobility: Ensure FULL Gender Parity in all Planning, Decision and Investment Fora (QED)
Every day is a perfect occasion for World Streets to announce publicly, loudly and yet once again our firm belief that the most important single thing that our society, our nations and our cities could do to increase the fairness and the effectiveness of our transportation arrangements would be to make it a matter of the law that all decisions determining how taxpayer money is invested in the sector should be decided by councils that respect full gender parity. We invite you to join us in this challenge and make it one of the major themes of sustainable transport policy worldwide in the year immediately ahead.
Designing for Transportation Management and Operations: A Primer
Abstract:
This primer from the US Department of Transportation is focused on the collaborative and systematic consideration of management and operations during transportation project design and development. This is termed “designing for operations.” Effectively designing for operations involves the development and application of design policies, procedures, and strategies that support transportation management and operations.
The consideration of operations needs during the design process requires transportation design professionals to work closely with those with expertise in transportation operations, intelligent transportation and transportation technology staff, planning, transit, freight, traffic incident management, and other practitioners from multiple agencies to fully identify, prioritize, and incorporate operations needs into the infrastructure design. This primer introduces the concept for designing for operations and describes tools or institutional approaches to assist transportation agencies in considering operations in their design procedures as well as pointing out some specific design considerations for various operations strategies
SECRET WEAPON?
Op-Ed: Why Electric Scooters Companies Are Getting Serious About Safety
- By SARAH HOLDER.
- * * * Full article and illustrations HERE.
Lime has joined Bird in establishing a safety advisory board tasked with helping the e-scooter industry shape local regulations—and shake its risky reputation.
Lime, the micromobility company that’s flooded the streets of more than 100 cities around the world with fleets of green-and-white electric scooters, launched a Public Policy and Safety Advisory Board last week. The group, which convened for the first time at a safety summit in San Francisco, is tasked with determining what research and policy initiatives to pursue, what regulations to advocate for, and how to generally smooth the company’s sometimes-bumpy relationships with cities, riders, and riders-to-be.
Lime’s announcement reflects a growing acknowledgement within the e-scooter rental industry that safety concerns present a major barrier to mass adoption.
Continue reading
Op-Ed: The changing landscape of shared mobility
– By Caroline Samponaro, head of bike, scooter, and pedestrian policy at Lyft.
- Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota
- http://www.cts.umn.edu/publications/catalyst/2019/july/mobility
From the quick rise of the electric scooter to Lyft’s expansion of bike-share networks across the country, change is constant in the shared mobility industry. This changing landscape was the topic of the CTS Spring Luncheon presentation by Caroline Samponaro, a longtime bike and pedestrian advocate in New York City who now leads micromobility policy at Lyft.
A “BETTER THAN CAR” MOBILITY SYSTEM
Nobody in a democratic 21st century country is going to willingly step down on the scale of comfort and economy. Fair enough, so let’s see how we can all step UP in terms of life quality for all with an cost-competitive, equity-based low-emissions transport strategy.
The objective here is to combine vision, policy, technology and entrepreneurial skills in such a way to create and make available to all a combined, affordable, multi-level, convenient, high choice mobility system which for just about everybody should be more efficient than owning and driving a car in or into town. Let us start with this as our goal and then see what is the work that must be done in order to turn it into a reality.
ON LUUD SCHIMMELPENNINK AND SOCIAL INNOVATION – GREAT IDEAS HAVE WINGS
World Streets is proposing to support the nomination of the prolific Dutch environmentalist, industrial designer, provocateur Ludd Schimmelpennink for a major international environmental award for his life-time contributions to sustainable development, sustainable cities and sustainable lives. (Our timetable for this submittal gives us one week from today, 10 November, to finalise the nomination.)
We invite the readers of World Streets to have a look and, if you will, get back to us with your suggestions to (a) edit, expand and improve the nomination whose draft follows. And once you have had a look and thought about it, you are invited to join us in supporting this unusual nomination. If so, it would be great to have your name, position and organisation( if any), city and country. And should you wish to add some brief remarks (less than 50 words max.), please do and our earnest editor will do his best.
McKinsey checks out Micromobility
In brief:
Micromobility is a category of modes of transport that are provided by very light vehicles such as electric scooters, electric skateboards, shared bicycles and electric pedal assisted, pedelec, bicycles. The primary condition for inclusion in the category is a gross vehicle weight of less than 500 kg. Additional conditions are the provision of a motor, primary utility use, and availability as a shared service. (Thanks WP.) Note: Additional graphics below purloined from the net. Creative Commons –
MxKinsey and Micromobility’s 15,000-mile checkup
January 2019 | Article By Kersten Heineke, Benedikt Kloss, Darius Scurtu, and Florian Weig Source and full text, graphics and links: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/automotive-and-assembly/our-insights/micromobilitys-15000-mile-checkup
CHECKLIST OF KEY TERMS, CONCEPTS AND REFERENCES FOR MANAGING THE CLIMATE/NEW MOBILITY TRANSITION
Checklist of key terms, concepts and references for managing the climate/new mobility transition (1 June 2019. Text to follow here.)
ACTIVE TRANSPORT: * Bicycles * Bike/Transit Integration * Public Bicycle Systems * Telecommuting * Telework * Walk to School * Walking
Archives: The New Mobility Agenda
This posting, taken with minor updating from the original 2008 Wikipedia entry under that title, traces the history of the New Mobility Agenda from its founding as part of an OECD program of the Development Center under the leadership of Eric Britton and Mikoto Usui,. It charts the history and evolution of this innovative transport planning and policy concept from its beginning in the early seventies through 2008, at which time this international networking role was taken over by the international collaborative “World Streeets: The Politics of Transport in Cities” at https://wordpress.com/worldstreets
THE FIVE PERCENT CHALLENGE, COLLABORATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING (In brief)
* * Working draft for peer review and comment of 17 July 2019
</b>The basic concept is simple in principle, namely: to identify and put to work a strategic package of proven, street-tested, cost-effective measures, tools and means to reduce GHG emissions from the mobility sector in a cooperating city or place by a targeted five percent (or better) in a year or less. Realization of the concept on the other hand is highly demanding and requires considerable technical competence, abundant political savvy and leadership by daily example.
The underlying goal is highly ambitious, and perhaps not immediately evident. It is about people and choices, and not so much about infrastructure or vehicles. We are talking here about influencing behaviour of individuals and groups in this specific part of their day to day lives. Since indeed the only way that we can successfully make this critical transition in a functioning democracy — is no less than to change behaviour by creating a transformed urban (or rural, or other demographic) ecosystem of connected realities, time, space, perceptions, awarenesses, values, fears, prejudices, habits and, hopefully in parallel with this an wide array of “better than car” or at least satisficing mobility choices. The key to all this being to offer what are perceived as better choices for all when it comes to daily life, climate, mobility, environment and democracy impacts. The challenge we now face is to accompany this transition, and this in the teeth of a rapidly degrading environment and still a largely skeptical world.
PENANG NEEDS A BICYCLE MAYOR PENANG NEEDS A BICYCLE MAYOR PENANG NEEDS A BICYCLE MAYOR PENANG NEEDS A BICYCLE MAYOR PENANG NEEDS . . .
__ THE FIVE PERCENT 2020 CHALLENGE ___
Penang’s Climate/New Mobility Emergency Action Plan and Demonstrations: 2019-2020
Penang heavy traffic bridge no room for cyclists (Remind me, where do you fit them in?)
Proposed New Mobility Penang Demo Project #1.
PENANG NEEDS A BICYCLE MAYOR
Cycling the streets and roads of Penang today is at best difficult. And rare. There are very few provisions for safe and comfortable cycling, the weather can be terribly hot. The traffic a challenge, and the old cycling culture has almost entirely disappeared.
So the Bicycle Mayor would be starting with a weak base. But what a wonderful place it could be for the people of Penang to get around safely in daily life. So we start with a dream, then we get courage, and then we get the people, to together turn the idea into reality. A gift to themselves and a gift to the planet.
SLOW CITY TRANSITION: NOTES FOR A THINKING EXERCISE
The idea of slowing top speeds on traffic in the city to reduce accidents and achieve other important systemic benefits would seem like a pretty sensible, straightforward and affordable thing to do. For a lot of reasons. Let’s have a look.
Online List of 219 Available World Climate Change Initiatives *
Climate Action Plan (CAP)
A Climate Action Plan (CAP) is a framework of strategies intended to guide efforts for climate change mitigation. More specifically, a climate action plan is a detailed and strategic framework (ecosystem) for measuring, planning, and reducing Green House Gas (GHG) emissions and related climatic impacts. It can be scoped and carried at any of a wide range of geographic or government levels: national, regional, cities or even neighborhoods or eco-districts. No less, such an action plan can be carried out by and at the levels of large or smaller companies, employers, cultural centers and events, schools and universities, and even families or individuals.
As an example: Municipalities design and utilize climate action plans as customized road maps for making informed decisions and understanding where and how to achieve the largest and most cost-effective emissions reductions that are in alignment with other municipal goals. Climate action plans, at a minimum, include an inventory of existing emissions, explicit reduction goals, targets, and timetables, and analyzed and prioritized reduction actions. Ideally, a climate action plan also includes an implementation strategy that identifies required resources and funding mechanisms.
Help from Wikipedia
Op-ED. A Blueprint from Israel to Eliminate Traffic Jams
PREFACE: It is always a good idea, no matter how hard and even smart we may be working on our project, concept or dream, if we are able to have the benefit of the comments and suggestions of some bright and inventive outsider, someone who has not spent all their time 24/7 staring at the challenges in front of us transportation guys. Let’s have a look at this fresh commentary from one Israeli entrepreneur, Uri Levine, who says he hates traffic jams — and then take some time to ponder a bit on his vision, ideas and hopes before we turn back to the tasks at hand. Thanks Uri for your fresh vision. Let’ see if we can in our next big project — the Five Percent Challenge — respond to your challenge.
I hate traffic jams. Don’t you too?
- By Uri Levine, Start-Up Nation Central. With full text, graphics and references available in the original Jan 27, 2019 Forbes article at http://bit.ly/2FUnIeq
Op-Ed: What/who keeps holding back New Mobility reform in your city in 2019?
From the editor’s desk: If you get it, New Mobility policy reform is a no-brainer in January 2019. However, while the New Mobility Agenda is a great starting place, it is not going to get the job somehow miraculously done just because it is the only game in town when it comes to sustainable transport. There is plenty of competition for your thin wallet, all that space on the street, and especially for that space between our ears. We have a few potential sticking points here that need to be overcome first.
Let’s have a quick look. After some years of talking with cities, and working and observing in many different circumstances, here is my personal shortlist of the barriers most frequently encountered in trying to get innovative transportation reform programs off the ground, including even in cities that really do badly need a major mobility overhaul.
WORLD STREETS __ A New Mobility Action Plan for 2022 