Active transportation

This policy brief summarizes some of the key findings from a comprehensive literature review (submitted for publication) on the impact of shared mobility services and GHG emissions.

Bike enthusiasts argue that bikesharing programs can be an important element of sustainable mobility planning in the urban cores of large metropolitan areas. However, the objective longterm impact of bikesharing on reducing auto-dependence is not well-examined, as prior studies have tended to rely on self-reported subjective mode substitution effects. We use a unique longitudinal dataset containing millions of geo-referenced vehicle registrations and odometer readings in Massachusetts over a six-year period - the Massachusetts Vehicle Census - to examine the causal impact of bikesharing on various metrics of auto-dependence in the inner core of Metro Boston.

Transport accounts for 40 % of global emissions, 72 % of which comes from road transport, and private cars are responsible for 60 % of road transport emissions. In cities, self-service bike sharing systems are quickly developing and are intended to offer an alternative and cleaner mode of transport than the car. However, the sustainability of such schemes is often taken as a given, rather than thoroughly evaluated. To address this gap, in this paper we undertake a life cycle assessment (LCA) of a public self-service bike sharing system in the city of Edinburgh, UK, modelling the production, operation and disposal elements of the system, but discounting additional food intake by users.

The Handbook provides methods to quantify GHG emission reductions from a specified list of measures, primarily focused on project-level actions. The Handbook also includes a method to assess potential benefits of different climate vulnerability reduction measures, as well as measures that can be implemented to improve health and equity, again at the project level.

In 2021, City Council directed PBOT to identify new revenue sources that reflect the City’s policy goals, address the bureau’s structural deficit, and provide maximum flexibility to invest in our transportation system, and to present its recommended revenue proposals to Council during the FY 2022-23 budget development process. POEM is an initiative to raise funds for implementing transportatin options by essentially taxing driving.

Technology-enhanced bikeshare features a dockless system with GPS-tracked electric bikes and a mobile app. As an additional transportation mode, it offers users greater accessibility and more flexibility compared to traditional bikeshare. This paper examines the causal impact of a tech-enhanced bikeshare program on public transit ridership, using evidence from a mid-sized metropolitan area in the Midwest of the United States. 

The 2020 report quantifies the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on shared micromobility and demonstrates the industry’s response and resilience during this time to provide essential mobility services. The report also compares trends from 2019 and presents new research that shows the impact of the industry in North America.

Whim is an app service that consolidates transportation services into a monthly subscription. The app includes access to taxis, public transportation, and rental cars. The app's goal is to reduce vehicle ownership by offering convenient access to multiple alternatives.

Re-allocating space on streets to accommodate new uses – particularly for walking, biking, and being – is not new. COVID-era needs have accelerated the process that many communities use to make such street transitions, however. Many communities quickly understood that the street is actually a public place and a public good that serves broader public needs more urgent than the free flow or the storage of private vehicles. This book captures some of these quick changes to city streets in response to societal needs during COVID, with two open questions: 1) what changes will endure post-COVID?; and 2) will communities be more open to street reconfigurations, including quick and inexpensive trials, going forward?

COVID Mobility Works is an independent platform dedicated to collecting, synthesizing and sharing mobility initiatives that are keeping the world moving during the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal of this platform is to help policymakers, innovators, researchers and advocates rise to the challenge of creating more resilient, inclusive, and sustainable transportation systems for all.

Urbano has been developed by Cornell University and other organizations. This software has some special features like download geospatial data, import and aggregate data, lookup and modify metadata, routing in different modes, analyze amenities and streets, integrated cad workflow, etc. Also, is useful to quantify urban parameters like amenity demand, streetscore, amenityscore and walkscore. It has a friendly interface to visualize different urban planning parameters.

Make pedestrian ways, particularly sidewalks, first class members of an open data transportation network. The OpenStreetMap (OSM) project has made available extensive, user-contributed open data on transportation networks, providing the basis for many use cases and downstream activities, including rich analytics, travel route optimization, city planning, and disaster relief. Sidewalks in the built environment have generally been treated an addendum to streets, failing to serve people with limited mobility.

"In this paper we put together a list of the basic instincts that drive and contain travelers' behavior, showing how they mesh with technological progress and economic constraints."

"NACTO research in seven cities shows that pairing bike share with protected bike lanes encourages riding, increases the visibility of people on bikes, and reduces overall biking risk."

A survey of adults in the U.S. found that there are generational differences in travel preferences.

Despite a growing economy, there has been a decrease in the average miles driven due in part to alternate modes of transportation and more opportunities to work and shop remotely.

This article examines bicyclists’ travel behavior for transportation and for recreational purposes based on preferences, physical and social environmental factors, and perceived safety.

This report discusses 761 walkable urban places in the United States' 30 largest metropolitan areas and their impact on social equity and educational attainment, and their economic impact on office, retail, and housing land uses.

This report outlines examples of integrated mobility initiatives that can help guide transit agencies in determining ways to move toward more integrated mobility.

This is the sponsorship brochure for the 2020 Urbanism Next European Conference.

The NUMO New Mobility Atlas is an extensive, data-driven platform mapping the rapid proliferation of new mobility, including micromobility, in cities around the world. Developed in partnership with partner organizations from the public and private sectors, the Atlas uses open data to track which shared transportation options — currently dockless scooters, bicycles and mopeds — are available in cities.

This is a fact sheet suitable for use as a printed handout on Urbanism Next's topline research findings regarding micromobility.

Sustainable, inclusive, prosperous, and resilient cities depend on transportation that facilitates the safe, efficient, and pollution-free flow of people and goods, while also providing affordable, healthy, and integrated mobility for all people. The pace of technology-driven innovation from the private sector in shared transportation services, vehicles, and networks is rapid, accelerating, and filled with opportunity. At the same time, city streets are a finite and scarce resource.These principles, produced by a working group of international NGOs, are designed to guide urban decision-makers and stakeholders toward the best outcomes for all.

This purpose of this report is to help the cities of Gresham, Oregon and Eugene, Oregon understand the potential impacts of new mobility technologies – with an emphasis on autonomous vehicles (AVs) – and prepare a policy response. While Gresham and Eugene are case studies, it provides communities of all sizes information on how new mobility services could impact their communities and what they can do about it, from broad strategies to specific policy responses. While this work focuses on the various new mobility and goods delivery services that currently exist, the framework that is discussed here is also applicable to emerging technologies that haven’t yet been introduced, such as AVs.

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are a near future reality and the implications of AVs on city development and urban form, while potentially widespread and dramatic, are not well understood. This report describes the first order impacts, or the broad ways that the form and function of cities are already being impacted by forces of change including⁠—but not limited to⁠—AVs and related technologies.

Open source simulation platform for supporting planning and analysis of urban development, incorporating the interactions between land use, transportation, the economy, and the environment.

A blueprint for designing 21st century streets, the Guide unveils the toolbox and the tactics cities use to make streets safer, more livable, and more economically vibrant.

Urban Footprint provides a cloud-based urban planning software built by urban planners and designers who truly understand planning needs. Service includes actionable data, scenario building, and multi-metric analysis.

The purpose of the NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide (part of the Cities for Cycling initiative) is to provide cities with state-of-the-practice solutions that can help create complete streets that are safe and enjoyable for bicyclists.

The Transit Street Design Guide provides design guidance for the development of transit facilities on city streets, and for the design and engineering of city streets to prioritize transit, improve transit service quality, and support other goals related to transit.

Provides a real time transit visualization and analytics interface.

Simulation of Urban MObility (SUMO) - is an open source, highly portable, microscopic and continuous traffic simulation package designed to handle large road networks.

Open source and free, web-based street design platform.

Open source and free, web-based street design platform, specifically cross-sections of streets for multiple uses.

Metro data enables deep analysis of cyclist and pedestrian activity including popular or avoided routes, peak commute times, intersection wait times, and origin/destination zones. Metro processes this data for compatibility with geographic information system (GIS) environments.

Open source software, digital infrastructure, and governance frameworks that enable public-private collaboration and the seamless exchange of transport data.

Open source software, digital infrastructure, and governance frameworks that enable public-private collaboration and the seamless exchange of transport data.

Urban population movement simulation tool for strategic planning.

Provides a platform to design and manage your city's transportation future, specifically bus and micromobility services.

An open source, C++ routing tool oriented more toward developers.

Open source and free, web-based urban design platform.

Mapbox is the location data platform for mobile and web applications. they provide building blocks to add location features like maps, search, and navigation into any experience you create.

Policy Guidebook for urban transportation and land use decision makers.

The Option Generator allows users to create a list of ranked policy instruments based on individual search criteria.

This scorecard shows the criteria and point values that make up the BRT Standard, including a description of each category.

Open-access scenario planning package that allows users to analyze how their community's current growth pattern and future decisions impacting growth will impact a range of measures from public health, fiscal resiliency and environmental sustainability.

Bicycle and pedestrian counting technical equipment and consulting services.

CoAXs uses open data and free software to enable users to test new transportation scenarios in real time. Users can activate and deactivate selected hypothetical and existing transit routes; examine effects of changes such as in bus speeds or frequencies; and explore the impact of these changes on different locations in a region. Great example of work done in Boston.

Citilabs offers a number of analytical and visualization products to aid in modeling population movement, scenario planning, and transit operations.

Guidelines for cities to implement sustainable and environmental mobility strategies for people and goods.

BikeAble can use mapping technology to model the low-stress bike route options available from any origin to any destination. Doing this for a large number of origins and destinations allows us to aggregate the results to show not just how connected one household is to key destinations, but how well connected an entire community is.

This report created by Toole Design and commissioned by the City of Spokane provides analysis of a micromobility pilot launched in 2018. Toole Design considered survey results, field evaluation, and data reports when forming their recommendation for the city.

"This document describes the permit process for the City of Fremont’s Shared Active Transportation pilot program. Shared active transportation (SAT) programs consist of bicycles, electric bicycles, and/or motorized scooters (“SAT vehicles” or “devices”) that are deployed in the public right of way for use by members, subscribers, customers, or the general public. This document describes program terms and conditions, required application contents, and the process and timeline for review of applications. The objective of this permit process is to facilitate the creation of shared active transportation programs and the realization of their potential benefits, while avoiding potential negative impacts of such programs on the health, safety, and welfare of the general public."

This document contains the City of Milwaukee's "terms and conditions" for participation in their Dockless Bicycle Share Pilot Study. The City introduces goals for their pilot as well as their terms for participation which include insurance requirements, fees, data sharing, and fleet requirements.

The City of Baltimore launched a six-month dockless mobility pilot program on August 15, 2018. After evaluating trip data, community surveys, and injury reports, city planners recommended in this report that the City of Baltimore permanently integrates dockless bicycles and e-scooters into its transportation network.

Using public survey results and data provided by micromobility vendors, the City of Denver's Public Works Department created this evaluation report roughly six months after the pilot began.

This evaluation report conducted by the Seattle Department of Transportation is one of the most comprehensive and thorough reports of a new mobility pilot program. The report features an in-depth analysis of ridership data, community and user surveys, and the equitable-access requirements.

"This document provides an interim evaluation of the SFMTA’s Stationless Bikeshare Pilot Program, approximately 9 months after the start of the 18-month pilot period. The evaluation shows that the JUMP bikeshare system is generally performing well and complies with the terms and conditions set forth by the SFMTA. The evaluation also identifies several potential improvements. Based on this evaluation, the SFMTA recommends expanding the maximum fleet size for JUMP to 500 bikes for the duration of the 18- month pilot period. The SFMTA will complete its full evaluation of the pilot program in spring 2019, including recommendations for if and how to permanently permit the operation of stationless bikeshare in San Francisco."

This report contains findings from all of the community engagement the City of San Antonio conducted during its six-month Dockless Vehicle Pilot Program which began on October 19, 2018.

Chicago launched their first dockless bikeshare pilot on May 1, 2018. The program ended on November 1, 2018. This report outlines the City's goals for the pilot as well as survey results and trip data collected during the pilot period.

"This report represents an important contribution to the emerging understanding of the connections between transportation and public health. It contains 8 chapters entitled: Health effects of transportation policy; Transportation authorization 101: a backgrounder; Public transportation and health; Walking, bicycling, and health; Roadways and health: making the case for collaboration; Breaking down silos: transportation, economic development and health; Sustainable food systems: perspectives on transportation policy; Traffic injury prevention: A 21st-century approach. This report was written for community leaders, policymakers, funders, practitioners, and advocates interested in an overarching strategy to promote active living and to build healthy communities of opportunity."

"This plan sets the course toward realizing a healthy, prosperous, and resilient future for our city. It calls on us all to rise to the challenge of transforming our community to create a better life for future generations."

The Mobility Hub Reader’s Guide is meant to provide guidance and inspiration for city staff, property owners, developers, designers, transit agencies, and community members for enhancing project developments and public right-of-way improvements in proximity to existing or new transit stations with amenities, activities, and programs to support multi-modal connectivity and access.

One of the public policy goals for livable and sustainable communities is to minimize the use of automobiles. This paper focuses on introducing and justifying an important new policy principle. Even when car travel is minimized with smart growth land development policies, transportation demand management, and increased public transit, a significant level of automobile use will remain. As a result, reducing the environmental, economic and safety impacts of those remaining automobiles should be an essential element of a livable, sustainable community. Fortunately, fundamental and disruptive technological advances in new vehicles—automation, connectivity, and electrification as described in this paper are fast emerging to make this new priority feasible.

The "what ifs" are endless at this point. This article leaves us with only the tip of the iceberg of answers that could lead to what will happen as we are faced with major changes in transportation.

This report summarizes the major assumptions, predictions and forecasts that have been made for autonomous vehicles. It emphasizes their impact and takes focus on the effects it will have on previously immobile people and what it will take to integrate them legislatively.

This Blueprint outlines a vision for cities in a future where automated transportation is both accepted and widespread as part of the built environment. It is a human oriented vision for the potential of city streets, intersections, and networks-one in which automation can serve the goals of safety, equity, public health, and sustainability.

After 17 cyclists die after being hit on the roads in the first half of the year, the city decides to take major steps to improve bicycle safety.

Based on the 2001 and 2009 National Household Travel Surveys, this paper analyzes trends and determinants of multimodal car use in the U.S. during a typical week by distinguishing between (1) monomodal car users who drive or ride in a car for all trips, (2) multimodal car users who drive or ride in a car and also use non-automobile modes, and (3) individuals who exclusively walk, cycle, and/or ride public transportation. We find that during a typical week a majority—almost two thirds—of Americans use a car and make at least one trip by foot, bicycle, or public transportation. One in four Americans uses a car and makes at least seven weekly trips by other modes of transportation. Results from multinomial and logistic regression analyses suggest there may be a continuum of mobility types ranging from monomodal car users to walk, bicycle, and/or public transportation only users—with multimodal car users positioned in-between the two extremes. Policy changes aimed at curtailing car use may result in movements along this spectrum with increasing multimodality for car users.

This article is a review of Adonia Lugo's book: "Bicycle / Race: Transportation, Culture, & Resistance". The book talks about issues of race and class in bicycle culture. It is a call to refocus bicycle-planning beyond physical infrastructure to include human-infrastructure that centers on the stories and identities that shape how, where, when, and why we travel.

Cyclists, particularly women, face risks. Separation of cyclists from vehicular traffic reduces encroachments and can address the well-founded concerns women have about safety. Other counties and municipalities can learn from the plans being implemented in Hennepin County and Minneapolis and do more to encourage and protect cyclists—especially women and girls.

Cycling advocates have proposed a network of bicycle paths connecting the suburbs and city center, comparing their plan to the region’s rapid transit system.

"Dockless bike share systems present an opportunity for cities to expand access to bike share by lowering costs and geographic barriers, but also create additional challenges in the areas of maintenance, parking, and right-of- way management. Most dockless providers are also private, venture-capital funded entities, representing a significant departure from current public and non-profit approaches. Other cities have encountered challenges in securing cooperation from these operators in areas such as data transparency. This raises a key question: To what extent can cities use contracts and governance to exchange use of the public right-of-way for operating requirements that advance equity, accessibility, innovation, and other goals? Using case studies from other U.S. cities and drawing insights from the wider “smart mobility” literature, this research presents recommendations for regulating dockless bike share in cities and ties these approaches to the implementation of Nice Ride Minnesota’s dockless pilot. "

Lawyers of a luxury condo in New York City have been brought into the debate surrounding the construction of a new bike lane that over took city parking in front of the condos.

"This Mobility Hub Features Catalog is a resource for regional agencies, local jurisdictions, transit operators, and private service providers as they collaborate to design and implement mobility hubs around the region. It describes the kinds of services, amenities, and technologies that can work together to make it easier for people to connect to transit, while also providing them with more transportation options overall. These mobility hub features may include various transit station improvements such as enhanced waiting areas with landscaping and lighting, complimentary WiFi and real-time travel information; wider sidewalks, pedestrian lighting and trees for shade; bike paths, designated bike lanes, and bike parking options; dedicated bus lanes and supporting signal improvements; service facilities for shared cars, scooters, and electric vehicles; smart parking technology; and more. Each feature can be tailored to the unique needs of an individual community."

Equity is a complex topic – is a bike share system equitable if bikes are available in all neighborhoods, if anyone who wanted to could afford to ride or have a membership, or only if ridership reflects the demographics of the city? In this report, we seek to identify ways for cities and bike share systems to have these conversations with meaningful data. The report is a resource to help cities navigate the range of actions that have been implemented to make bike share systems more equitable, examine successful strategies employed by other cities and systems, and understand how those systems are measuring and articulating their successes (and challenges).

The Global Street Design Guide is supporting practitioners to redefine the role of streets in cities around the world.

The 2017 Community and Transportation Preferences Survey echoes many of the major findings from the previous surveys. Residents in the fifty top metropolitan areas continue to be split on what they look for in a neighborhood. A small majority prefer the idea of a walkable community and more alternatives to driving, but suburban living remains highly attractive to a sizable portion of the community.

This study aims at capturing the users’ preference, while considering investors’ limitations and societal cost and benefits of each mode. The problem is defined as a mixed-integer non-liner problem, with non- linear objective function and constraints. Because of the computationally challenging nature of the problem, a metaheuristic algorithm based on simulated annealing algorithm is proposed for its solution. The performance of the algorithm is tested in this study and convergence patterns are observed.

A San Francisco judge ruled that Motivate, the bike-share operator that Lyft purchased one year ago, has exclusive rights to rent both docked and dockless bikes in the city.

Smartphone data from riders and drivers schlepping meals for restaurant-to-home courier service Deliveroo shows that bicycles are faster than cars. In towns and cities, bicyclists are also often faster than motorized two-wheelers.

Shared micromobility devices could thrive in a city like New York where individuals are encouraged to get out of their cars due to impending congestion pricing tolls and an expansion of protected bike lanes, according to the report. But biker and pedestrian safety remain a major issue in U.S. cities. Therefore, the most effective way to get people to use micromobility devices is to make them easy and safe to use, INRIX Transportation Analyst Trevor Reed told Smart Cities Dive in an email.

In the 1960s, countercultural icon Timothy Leary popularized the phrase, "turn on, tune in, drop out," to describe the idea of using LSD and other psychedelic drugs to detach from society and achieve a higher level of thinking. Later in his life, he argued that the personal computer was the "LSD of the 1990s"—at that time having no inkling how much automation and augmented reality would play in our society, or how autonomous vehicles might change the way we connect with others. Might automated vehicles (AVs) be one of the ways that humans "tune in, turn on" and disconnect for the next few decades?

This paper presents ten key challenge areas that need to be at the center of automated vehicle discussions across all sectors and stakeholders, along with a glossary of key terms. It is intended to serve as a discussion guide and orientation piece for people entering the conversation from a wide variety of perspectives, including advocacy, public policy, research, injury prevention, and technology developers.

This document provides guidance for cities and public entities as they look to manage and regulate Shared Active Transportation Companies that are not otherwise managed through competitive procurement processes or contracts. It focuses on clearer and more formal management of public-use mobility options that are not created under the auspices of a public entity. The regulatory focus of this document is not based on the technology or the business plan. Rather, as businesses operating on city streets, Shared Active Transportation Companies need to be overseen and regulated by public entities when they are not otherwise managed through existing processes.

Depending on how you look view transportation, bikes and scooters are the key to future, clean urban mobility or a sideshow that distracts from maintaining mobility across large metropolis. But the basic problem – the reason we’re having a hyper-emotional discussion about these transportation modes on both sides – is that we’re not framing the issue right.

As more people make the shift to sustainable mobility options like e-scooters, cities are evolving their transportation infrastructure to combat car dominance and to allow human-scaled modes to thrive. In addition to creating dedicated spaces for people to ride shared micro-mobility devices, this transition also includes creating space for them to park when not in use. To explore how cities should think about parking and micro-mobility, Bird sat down for a conversation with parking expert Donald Shoup.

With an estimated 1,600 bikeshare systems and more than 18 million shared bikes in urban centers worldwide, bikesharing has gone mainstream. On July 16, 2019 users in 24 cities in 16 countries can use Google Maps to both locate bikesharing stations and see exactly how many bikes are available at a station in real-time.

Google Maps will show users where a Lime vehicle is available, how long it will take to walk there, a price estimate as well as battery range.