The 2019 National Shared Mobility Summit took place this year between March 5th to March 7th at the Fairmont in Chicago, Illinois. This year the convention explored current trends in ridehailing, car sharing, mass transit the latest in shared mobility options, including micromobility, autonomous vehicles, mobility hubs and the latest technology available. The focus of this years summit was, how we can create a multi-modal transportation network that is cost effective and affordable, efficient, inclusive, accessible and sustainable.
Every year the leading experts in mobility gather to equip themselves with the knowledge of the latest research, policy advances and mobility pilots/experiments. They collaborate with the professionals in the industry and leaders in government and tackle the tough mobility issues and attempt to identify solutions and opportunities.
Continue reading to learn about some of the main issues and solutions in shared mobility, explored at this years conference. To read our highlights from the first ever North American, Micromobility Conference in Richmond, California that took place this year, click here.
2019 National Shared Mobility Summit, CHICAGO
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS
A recurring topic throughout the panel sessions at the Summit was the need for stronger, future partnerships between the public and private sector in transportation services. Throughout the conference, many speakers made reference to the challenges behind these partnerships, but also to the emerging success stories.
The Shared-Use Mobility Centre Summit (SUMC) facilitated workshops and panels that emphasised the need for these strong partnerships and called to attention the importance of advancing both public and private sectors goals through developing strategies for procurement, planning and implementation.
One major issue faced when building these relationships is the exchange and sharing of data and information from one sector to another. It was established at the conference that peer exchange, best practices and the easy transfer and flow of information is essential when helping all agencies avoid the pitfalls when exploring new partnership opportunities.
Local Government Strategies in Shared Mobility
Detroit, Minneapolis/St.Paul and King County, Washington were three municipalities represented at the conference as regions that are working towards implementing pilots, of which their local transit, partnered with private mobility companies. Examples of their proposed pilots/schemes are;
“RIDESHARE TO TRANSIT” PILOT: Seattle (along with King County and Sound Transit) offered a solution that prevents users from feeling the need to use ridehailing for the entire trip. The “Rideshare to Transit” pilot, will offer a discount on Lyft and Uber services, to incentivize commuters to use ridehail services to transit stops only. The plan aims to cost effectively and efficiently, solve the problem of “first-mile/last-mile” travel.
“NIGHT SHIFT” PROGRAM: Another program that is currently operation is Detroit’s “Night Shift” program, which offers Lyft services to citizens working late night shifts when public transit just isn’t available.
MOD On-Ramp Program
Preceding the SUMC Summit, the Shared-Use Mobility Center announced the selection of six public transportation agencies that will receive assistance to develop mobility-on-demand (MOD) projects through its MOD On-Ramp program. Participants will receive support for each of their projects, including utilizing research provided by SUMC and other experts, and the ability to collaborate one-on-one with peers to identify and develop feasible mobility on-demand business plans.
Each of those chosen pilot schemes combines mobility on-demand with technology solutions to help solve transportation problems in urban areas. During a day long workshop, the six recipients presented their project proposals, which included:
- Electric autonomous shuttles integrated into Austin, Texas traffic from the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority
- Microtransit to connect low-income residents in the Baltimore, Maryland, to job opportunities in the suburbs from Maryland Department of Transportation Maryland Transit Administration
- Indianapolis Mobility hubs to enhance current transit network from Indianapolis Public Transportation Corporation
- MaaS for SOV reduction in the Ithaca region in New York from Tompkins County
- First-last mile solutions in disadvantaged neighborhoods from the Memphis Area Transit Authority
- On-demand ride-hailing for persons who use a wheelchair in San Francisco from the Bay Area Rapid Transit District
NEW Startups tACKLING NEW SHARED mobility issues
During the Summit, nine start-ups eager to disrupt the current transportation and mobility practices, faced three judges and 120 conventioneers over two days. They presented their proposals for tackling the latest issues faced by shared mobility. One received the award of most promising start-up. The start-up and their proposals included;
TIKD: TIKD was selected as the most promising startup. A big issue that shared mobility services face a parking issues. The idea behindTIKD is that they monitor 700 ticket-issuing agencies to notice whenever a shared vehicle is ticketed. Rather than having the parking companies stalking the driver or rider company, the startup interacts directly with the offending driver to satisfy the fine.
CLEVR: This company offers a three-wheeled scooter with a seat that allows people with disabilities to become users. These scooters are equipped with precise GPS tracking with an accuracy to within three feet. The vehicles can be geofenced and speed-controlled in order to keep sidewalks and users safe.
Koloni: Koloni takes bike sharing to the next level. This company not only offers shared bikes but also shared storage lockers.
Bellhop: Bellhop aims to build a platform which will integrate all rideshare, bikeshare and public transit apps creating an all-in-one application that will compare rates and is easy to use.
Mobility 4 All: Mobility 4 All wants to provide shared mobility for those who are not able to ride by themselves. Using the app, a caregiver can arrange a ride for a disabled or elderly rider with a a certified driver from third party service.
SomEV: Scooters and e-bikes equipped with SomEV batteries can be charged by swapping the empty battery at a kiosk, rather than needing to hire an employee to charge the batteries.
Vostok: Vostok is another similar company who developed a e-scooter with a removable battery pack.
Velocia: Velocia want to reward people for parking in a specific areas or for taking public and shared transport using virtual currencies, Velos, that can be redeemed for bus tickets, bikesharing rides or other sustainable mobility modes.
RideOn: From Dock-less to Dock-yes, RideIT aims to clean up the scooter fiasco by providing docking stations for multiple scooter brands.
DOCKS FOR ELECTRIC “DOCKLESS” SCOOTERS
“We’ve all seen the problems associated with these things, but we also know the promise. In high-impact areas, they need to bring some order to the chaos.”
THE FUTURE OF MICROMOBILITY
“What a dock does is mimic that idea of a public transit station. It creates a predictable way for people to engage with this mode.”
Around the country, local governments are implementing strategies that will limit the amount of damage and safety issues caused by e-scooter sharing, whilst ensuring that they have a future in the shared economy. Metro L.A is considering a “micro mobility vehicles program” to manage shared e-scooter and e-bike parking at Metro stations. In March they proposed regulations for e-scooter parking at Metro stations in an effort to stop shared devices blocking walk/wheelchair passage across the city.
Do you have a form of shared mobility you’d like to see covered in our trend series? Tell us about it here.
