Cities as startups: 12 ways to improve mobility

I have to admit: I don’t get this love-hate relationship cities and commuters have with dock-less electric scooter and bike sharing startups, like LimeBike, Bird, and now even Lyft and Uber. And I certainly don’t agree with Elon Musk when, in a Recode podcast with Kara Swisher, says that scooters “lack dignity.”

Dignity?

I’m a biker and I see the benefits these new ways of last-mile transportation can bring to our cities. They help reduce congestion and traffic; they green our environment; they limit our commuting time, and they’re fun. In addition, biking is a very healthy way of moving around, while, at the same time, both bikes and scooters, docked or dock-less, are very affordable.

Of course, there are both pros and cons. Educating scooter users — to use helmets, limit usage for minors, obey traffic laws — and working with cities and local administrations is key to make this new model work for everybody. But it is also important to rethink our cities beyond the industrial revolution grids and schemes that we still live by, with cars still dominating our transportation systems and pedestrians having to adjust to car-dominance. Oftentimes, bikers are not even part of this mobility equation and cities are hard to adjust to new, innovative commuting schemes.

Cities are not good at disrupting systems and move away from the status quo. Cities are not good at operating as startups. But they should.

There is no simple solution to this conundrum. There is no one-size-fits-all idea that can bring a much needed detente between users, cities, and companies.

There are, however, ways to look at these issues in a different way. Moving away from car-dominance schemes is certainly one. Cars are still indispensable, but not in all circumstances.

Imagine cities, large and small, with half the traffic, half the pollution, half the parking spaces, and half the headaches of commuting to and from work. Imagine cities with double the pedestrian; double the services provided to pedestrians and bikers; double the bike lanes; double the fresh air.

It might be a utopia for most, but not for everybody. And certainly, our environment needs a break from carbon emissions!

I’m not a urban planner, nor I represent a mobility-sharing company or local administrators. But, as a biker, I have lots of experience on our city roads, and I have a lot to say :)

Here are just a few, simple ideas. Just food for thought!

1. App it up to better plan

Don’t just get out of your home, get your car, and drive to where your going. Moving from point A to point B is now easier, and more efficient than ever with map apps like Google Maps, Waze, MapMyRide, Transit, and Citymapper. Often, these apps show you the best way to get to your destination with alternative transportation. And you might be surprised, sometimes, the best way is not your car, but by walking 15–20 minutes. Some of these apps also show you the availability of docked and dock-less bikes and scooters in one screen.

2. Limited-traffic areas

In my native Italy, in France, and many other European countries, limited-traffic areas are very common in historic downtown areas and city centers. Those are areas either limit car access during specific times a day or allow access to only pedestrians or to pedestrians and bikes.

3. More bike lanes

It sounds like too-simple of an idea but it would help to build more bike lanes in all our cities — as well as to prioritize repair works for the bike lanes already in existence. I’ve been biking to and from work for years now and the bike lane on Columbia Road in Washington DC, the street I use for my commuting, hasn’t been fully repaired in ages, with hazardous, dangerous patches on most of its length. But bike lanes, and better bike lanes are not enough: in high-traffic areas, bike lanes need to be protected to limit dangers and accidents.

More racks and parking spaces for bikes and scooters are also in the interest of better mobility. It’d be just as easy as that.

4. Better sidewalks

Just like bike lanes, sidewalks are often an afterthought for city urban planners. And so are crosswalks and crossing signals. It seems to me that car traffic is always the priority and repairing our roads is a process that never involves re-planning.

5. Data, surveys, and open APIs

Anonymized data collected by bike and scooter sharing companies, as well as by map apps, could really help cities in their understanding of where to plan bike lanes, where to re-thing sidewalks, what signals need to be added, and and what areas need improving. Add to that data analytics from services like Populus that integrate live data feeds from multiple operators to help cities monitor shared mobility services, including bikes, scooters, and vehicles.

And please, please, cities, use surveys to check what your citizens want in terms of mobility and what suggestions they have to improve our roads.

Data and survey are not enough. Open APIs are important too! They are in the interest of cities although the debate here gets more complicated as open APIs also benefit competitors — large or small — and companies monetizing them.

6. Open permits

There’s a tendency right now for cities to limit the number of permits to startups in the bike and scooter sharing business. An open permitting system would not only facilitate better competition, but also the development of better services to users, and possibly also better deals for cities.

7. Better policing

Adjusting to more pedestrians, bikers, and scooter users on our streets requires better policing of our roads. Traffic officials are often not trained to respond to this new reality and of course not everybody using car-sharing services, or bike and scooters respect others on the street.

8. Incentives for employees

If your a company, consider providing incentives for your employees to better commute to and from work. Incentives for public transportation are becoming very popular, but why not incentives for biking to the office, or more bike racks at work?

9. Car pooling

We just need more! And more, alternative ways to connect commuters to each other.

10. Training for public transport operators

As a biker, I have a different understanding of public transportation, especially buses. We need to better understand each other! That means for bikers and pedestrians to be aware of bus routes and how much bus drivers know about their surrounding; and for public transport operators to receive better training to understand the new reality of our roads.

11. Intelligent public transportation tickets

Why do I still need a ad-hoc card to enter my subway system or enter a bus? Contact-less pay should be the new normal. Contact-less credit and debit cards in Europe show how subway systems are adapting — for example in London that’s all you need and allow users to get a 50% discount. Smartphone touch pay like Apple Pay could fully substitute public transport tickets as well.

12. Think tanks

Cities and companies should work with think tanks in the areas of urban planning and greening our cities. Organizations like C40 Cities, Climate Mayors, and The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy are all more than willing to work with cities and companies to mobilize and to support ambitious, measurable, planned climate and energy action. A better and greener mobility strategy is a good think for us all!

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