Micromobility

Micromobility operators Superpedestrian and Helbiz will partner with Populus to gather and analyze trip, crash, infrastructure and other data to give cities better planning tools to make bike and scooter travel safer.

Watchers of micromobility are seeing closer partnerships and collaborations between scooter and bike-share operators and other providers of mobility services such as public transit and ride-hailing.

The City Council on Monday voted to approve a one-year licensing agreement with Bird Rides to deploy as many as 200 shared electric scooters. The company will initially deploy between 25 and 35 devices.

Regional government organizations in Sacramento, Calif., and Denver have taken an oversight and data collection role around micromobility operations, showing that they are well positioned to navigate these planning efforts.

The city is considering another bout of regulation around the on-demand devices, citing safety concerns. But experts are divided over whether or not the popular transportation option needs more rules.

The state of Michigan and the National Park Service will be partnering on a number of transportation projects to address issues like congestion and parking, as well as increase electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

In New York City over the span of a day, malfunctioning lithium-ion batteries have led e-bikes to catch fire, leaving a dozen people injured. Last year, four people died due to similar fires.

After almost a year and a half of allowing electric scooters on its streets, Seattle has seen the number of scooter trips dwarf the number of bike trips. Some city council members still have safety concerns, however.

After a pilot program, Chicago is expected to welcome 4,000 electric scooters to its streets next month. The program should help residents during a time of high gas prices, officials say.

The U.S. Department of Transportation is set to have a record-high budget of $142 billion as the sprawling agency ramps up infrastructure spending on roads, bridges, rail lines, ports and more.

Bicycle and transportation researchers in Nashville, Tenn., are pointing to the growing phenomenon of electric bikes as the Music City develops its multimodal approach to transportation.

Transportation nodes serving as the meeting point for various transportation types are helping to accommodate the many mobility needs of city residents. They also serve as opportunities for stakeholders to collaborate.

Research from Carnegie Mellon University shows how replacing short car trips with bike and scooter trips can lead to less congestion, but local areas need more micromobility infrastructure for this positive outcome.

Work is underway to transform the LTV Coke Works plant in Pittsburgh’s Hazelwood neighborhood into a hub for robotics, AI, life sciences and similar ventures. The work will include a 150,000-square-foot Robotic Innovation Center.

The Curb Data Specification was developed among dozens of leaders from tech, transit, transportation, delivery and other areas to establish a set of common specifications to guide deployment and operation of digital curb management systems.

Based on data that underrepresented youth have better education and employment outcomes when they have reliable access to “out of school time” activities, a project in Kansas City seeks to address transit barriers.

Newly released research points to the need to both electrify the transportation sector and make cities less car dependent if there’s any hope of curtailing the worst effects of climate change.

At a recent Urbanism Next panel discussion, city officials from Boston and Minneapolis discussed mobility hub pilot projects, underscoring how hub locations can also serve as crucial community gathering spots.