Shared-use mobility is a hot topic these days.
Mobility Lab is partnering with the Association for Commuter Transportation and TransitCenter on an event June 10-11 in Washington D.C. called Innovation in Mobility Public Policy Summit.
And Mobility Lab Director Tom Fairchild was a panelist recently at The Brookings Institution for Mobility Innovations in the Sharing Economy sponsored by the Japan International Transport Institute.
Mobility Lab’s Tom Fairchild at Brookings
Fairchild and his fellow panelists noted that government regulators will not even come close to keeping up with what is coming next with private-sector mobility and accessibility offerings.
One panelist compared driving to making public policy, saying, “The most dangerous thing in a vehicle is the person ,” while “the most dangerous thing in a government is also the person .”
So while private industry adapts quickly to meet the mobility and access needs of consumers, what is the government role? Here are some points I gleaned from panelists Fairchild, Adie Tomer of Brookings, and Joseph Kopser of RideScout:
1. Public policy connecting land use and transportation environments does influence what people need and want.
Transit-oriented development and decisions to invest in infrastructure such as the Metro system create desirable environments where more and more people prefer affordable and diverse transportation choices and options over the capital investment and ongoing costs of owning a car. D.C. was given as an example of a government that is successfully adapting regulations as the mobility environment changes in order to make more options possible.
In another example, since 2009, the municipal transit agency in San Francisco also regulates the taxicab industry, so uses of the right-of-way can be better understood and planned as one system. The Bay Area’s regional 511 program, a one-stop-shop for traffic, transit, ridesharing, and biking information that spans nine counties, demonstrates the value of interjurisdictional coordination on transportation information.
2. Data sharing should be a requirement of getting federal and state transportation funds. If a key weapon for smart cities is broadband, open data is similar for smart transportation. It’s needed to reach our transport system potential. Data makes vehicle-miles-traveled fees possible. It makes our public-transit apps better. How do we set up the legal frameworks to protect privacy but incentivize data sharing so we can make the most of all options?
3. Equity. The income inequality debate is hot, but the conversation has been going on for a long time. Technology has the potential to be great for economic equality.
In developing markets, cell phones have provided access to communications technology and economic opportunity in places where governments couldn’t or wouldn’t extend land-line service. However, many new technological solutions to transportation needs today, such as carsharing and bikesharing, come with barriers to entry, such as a line of credit, which make it harder for specific groups of people to participate.
Governments arguably are here to help all community members use all transportation options better, so how do we prevent some folks from being systematically left behind?
4. Culture of sharing, culture of driving. Transport is a very personal decision, so how can we tell the story of the sharing economy so it is relevant to an individual’s transportation equation?
Americans still like cars and all the symbolism they hold in our history, even if urban dwellers are being encouraged to feel guilty about them. The cultural conversation must keep up with technological change. In the not-so-distant future, driverless cars may be a real threat to urban environments because they could unleash unsustainable land-use and transportation patterns once again. Driverless cars will be seen as safer, more efficient in traffic, and “greener” if they are also electric, so they will have reduced or removed several of the “cons” of today’s vehicles. But, just like regular cars today, more cars will still contribute to more roadway congestion, and they will still require parking space and rights-of-way that are expensive to provide.
Public-sector planners will need to step up their game to keep the conversation about what makes a great community – the complete streets and community and transportation design that improves quality of life for everyone.
For more from the event, click here
Artwork by Mike Thomas and photo by M.V. Jantzen