What might that mean, in practical terms? Officials talked about the creation of, in effect, super apps that would make it easier for people to figure out the best way to get someplace, of nurturing electric and autonomous car technology, of "transforming how we think about transportation," Austin City Council Member Ann Kitchen said.
Mayor Steve Adler talked about a future Austin, maybe as far as 50 years away, where a focus on transportation offered "just in time" (for instance, an Uber ride at someone's fingertips) replaces today's emphasis on "just in case we need it" options (namely, the cars that largely sit idle until their driver needs to go somewhere). Again, officials were short on specifics.
"We need to try it all," Adler said during the news conference. "There are hundreds of ideas. I see Rocky Mountain Institute as the idea aggregator."
"If we're going to have an effective transportation system, it has to be more about choices than infrastructure," Kitchen said.
The 33-year-old, Boulder-based institute, on its website, says its "strategic focus is transforming global energy use to create a clean, prosperous, and secure energy future." The nonprofit late last year merged with British business titan Richard Branson's Carbon War Room, another nonprofit aimed at "tackling climate change through market-based solutions," and the combined organization has about 150 employees in five cities worldwide.
Jeruld Weiland, the institute's managing director, said the plan here is to bring six to eight employees to Austin and spend three to five years working with city staff, outside experts and "Austin's best and brightest" to address transportation.
The city will provide only in-kind services, Kitchen said, including office space and the collaboration of city staff. Weiland, asked how much the effort might cost the institute, said "I don't want to put a number on it."
Weiland, who worked at General Motors for three decades, including work on electric car technology, cautioned against overly optimistic expectations about the pace of change.
"It's not going to happen overnight," said Weiland, especially given that determining what the definition of "it" includes is the institute's primary task. "There are no silver bullets in this game."
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