Micromobility’s Growing Pains

September 2023

Over the last few years, micromobility has gone through ups and downs. During the pandemic, cities expanded their bike lane infrastructure, and people embraced micro mobility for recreation and virus-free commuting modes. Post-pandemic, as commuting to work returned, many traditional commuters (e.g. pedestrians and drivers) started to express frustration with the encroachment of these new vehicles on bike/car lanes and sidewalks. Older citizens, in particular, have become fearful of the growing electric bike/moped traffic, especially when these exceed the class two 20 mph limit and bypass expected traffic rules (e.g. not stopping at red lights). While city politicians continue to pass pro-micro mobility ordinances to address congestion and reduce carbon emissions, they must also better manage micromobility growth to ensure citizen safety.

New York City has responded to these dangers through better communication of the rules of the road by vehicle type – see the excellent table from the NYPD. For example, escooters that go 15mph can use bike lanes and do not require a license plate while all mopeds must ride in car lanes and must be DMV registered. But many believe city politicians must do more to ensure all electric vehicles are registered in order to improve enforcement. Many point to Paris, the only major European city to have outlawed shared electric scooters following a popular vote in April 2023 (though private e-scooter use is still allowed) as a model for how to go about regulating electric micromobility even though the vote only attracted a 7.5% turnout of mostly older citizens.

While the most crowded cities are responding to the challenges of micromobility growth, the slow pace of legislative approvals means that cities (including mine, Boston) still resemble a commuting wild west right now. I am constantly perplexed by how food delivery mopeds without license plates can get away with driving over 30 mph in bike lanes, often the wrong way. As these concerned fellow Boston citizens report, where is the enforcement of illegal moped riding?

These disruptions in city commuting could be considered growing pains inherent to any popular disruptive technology. In the early days of the automobile, popular opinion of cars was negative and people marched in the streets when the first child was killed by a driver according to the excellent book, There Are No Accidents by Jessica Singer. As the auto industry matured through vehicle regulations, improved vehicle safety and lower car prices, cars became ubiquitous and the 1.35 million annual fatalities they cause (according to the World Health Organization) have not stopped consumer demand for automobile driving.

While cars continue to rule the road and will in the future, micromobility needs to be taken more seriously by law makers and traffic enforcers to ensure cities can grow sustainable transportation safely. We need to restore order to the streets now through smart legislation and more consistent enforcement. The mobility and environmental health of our cities depend on this.

Some Thoughts on Juneteenth, 2020

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It’s Juneteenth (June 19), a day commemorating the end of slavery 155 years ago. I personally had not given much thought to this day in years past. This year, however, Juneteenth has entered white consciousness as we have recently witnessed and felt the pain black and brown people experience daily. Many corporations in America are encouraging employees to take the day off. I’m taking this time to jot down some thoughts in this blog which i’ve neglected for too long.

The pandemic has driven more people to the streets in search of exercise and fresh air. Armed with smartphones and social media accounts, many have been documenting and sharing aggressions of various kinds towards black people. These street atrocities are just the tip of the iceberg of the discrimination experienced by black people over hundreds of years.

What is not caught on camera is the discrimination that has deprived black people of economic advancement. How many times have black and brown candidates been turned down for well paying jobs because white people are in charge of making hiring decisions and more likely to select a candidate that looks like them. All of these micro decisions and biases that cut black people from opportunities negatively impacts their financial and mental well-being and this negativity impacts their family and reverberates across their community. And so now we find ourselves with staggering wealth disparities between white and black people. A 2015 Boston Federal Reserve study conducted in collaboration with Duke University and The New School showed that black households in Boston had an average net worth (assets less debt) of $8 while while households’ net worth was $247 thousand. When black people tell you they don’t own anything, it’s not an exaggeration.

To turn the topic over to street infrastructure now, the subject of this blog. As someone who champions converting streets into Complete Streets that can accommodate cyclists and pedestrians safely, I realize that this cause may not resonate similarly with the Black community. If taking a walk increases your risk of a negative encounter, or going outside exposes you to harmful pollutants, you may prefer to get around in the safety of a car. As Destiny Thomas, a black transportation and community planner, shares in this CityLab article, “if you want to ban cars, start by banning racism”.

Across all fields of work – financial services, urban planning, technology and healthcare we have so much work to do to better support and lift up our black brothers and sisters who contribute so much everyday in spite of the oppression they continue to face.

From Vox: eScooters Forcing Cities to Re-think Street Design

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I enjoyed reading this in-depth piece from Vox about the rapid rise of dockless escooter companies and their current and potential impact on city mobility and street infrastructure. It covers how they work, how cities are responding and suggests that they are challenging cities to re-think urban street design.

“Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of scooters will be that they will force a larger discussion of whom or what we prioritize when we design cities. “I’m hoping that all of this disruption will help us think more systematically about these things,” said UCLA’s Brian Taylor, a professor of urban planning at the University of California Los Angeles.

The article shows that the majority of vehicle trips in the U.S. are less than 6 miles (59.4%) and dockless escooters have the potential to displace some of these short trips while also giving those without a car access to a low-cost, low-friction means of getting to a transit station or, directly, to work, school etc.

When thinking about Boston, dockless escooters (and bikes) could help the “more than half of Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan residents who rely on public transportation but don’t have convenient access to rapid transit” (see The Roxbury-Dorechester-Mattapan Transit Needs Study). This all sounds like a no brainer except for the lack of safe street infrastructure for escooting and biking in these parts of the city. Many residents of Mattapan will tell you they don’t feel safe biking in the street, and bike lanes there are still scarce.

Towards the article’s end, author Umar Irfan points out that while cities are putting a cap on the number of shared escooters allowed, there continues to be no limit on the number of cars. No restrictions on the number of cars in spite of the large cost to society from automobiles in the form of vast quantities of parking spaces (taking away space for housing, parks etc.), lost lives, pollution, congestion etc. The cost to society from escooters and other similar micro mobility options will be significantly less. This calculation should lead cities to engage in massive reductions of car infrastructure in favor of wider bike lanes and sidewalks.

The article indicates that New York City seems ready to deploy scooters to help those without many transit options. Let’s hope more cities move passed their hurt feelings over brash start-up behavior and start truly taking advantage of these new micro mobility solutions to bring transportation relief to those who need it and, more generally, to improve city living.

Barcelona’s High-Class Bike Lanes

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I recently returned from a visit to Paris and Barcelona. Both cities are ranked in the top 20 most bike-friendly cities on the planet by Copenhagen Design Co. As a first time visitor to Barcelona, I was incredibly impressed with its cycling infrastructure. As a recurring visitor to Paris, I noticed more bike lanes than on my last visit a couple of years ago. Paris declared 2017 the year of the bike (see Reuters article) and will be adding bike lanes and pedestrian zones on its most popular streets, including along the Louvre and in the Marais district. I suspect I will see more drastic changes on my next visit. In this post, I will dwell on Barcelona’s impressive protected bike lanes.

By 2018, Barcelona will have 300KM or 191 miles of bike lanes for 1.6 million people. This metric alone is not that impressive. Boston has a similar-sized network when adjusted for population (about 165 KM of “bike lanes” for 650 thousand people). Paris boasts 400KM for 2.2 million people. But a bike lane in Boston and a bike lane in Barcelona are two different animals. What makes these Barcelona lanes stand-out is the level of protection they offer two-wheelers. Most of these paths are protected. By contrast, in Boston, according to the Go Boston 2030 study (page 50), only 6 of 105 miles of bike lanes are physically separated from traffic.

Here are some pictures of Barcelona’s protected bike lanes. I saw a lot of oblong low bumps (a per the picture above) and delineator posts (see this resource about the different ways to protect a bike lane from traffic). The one I found most unique is the protected round-about bike lane which I believe is being considered for Somerville’s Union Square (see below).

Now we are back in Boston, back to unprotected bike lanes. See the picture below of my family and I riding the day before our Euro tour in June (Somerville Ave I think?).

After seeing the high-class bike lanes of Barcelona, I now feel even less safe riding on Boston’s streets. Until we get to 100 miles of protected bike lanes, we’d better gear up. That’s a subject for another post, or a full website dedicated to protective cycling gear. As a start, here is a list of Vision Zero safety equipment from Hobbr.

Commuter Rewards Programs: Why Cambridge-based Green Streets Rocks

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Is your workplace looking for an employee rewards program that encourages healthy/sustainable commuting? I’ve looked into different rewards programs in search of a partner and Green Streets Initiative’s (GSI) Walk/Ride Day Workplace Challenge is, by far, my favorite. Before I share why I think they’re superior to comparable programs, know that GSI runs a seven month Workplace Challenge whereby employees “check-in”, or record, their commute (modes and duration) on the last Friday of the month, between April and October. Participants are rewarded online, monthly, through raffles, discounts, and incentives offered by some participating employers.

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Commuting in Boston Should Get Happier in 2017

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A change in Boston’s default speed limit and increases in parking meter rates should improve commuting conditions for pedestrians, bikers, and drivers who need parking.

On January 9th, the default speed limit drops to 25 mph from 30mph. This change should have a meaningful impact on pedestrian and biker safety. Based on WalkBoston, pedestrians have a 40% chance of getting killed when hit by a vehicle driving at 30 mph. That probability decreases to under 10% at 20mph. The Transportation Department will also be looking at areas due for a 10mph drop to 20mph.

Boston’s goal is to achieve zero fatalities on its city streets from traffic crashes. This initiative, only first announced by Boston Mayor Walsh in 2015, will be modeled off a program born in Sweden in the late 90s known as Vision Zero. In 2016 the number of fatalities due to traffic crashes, including pedestrians, bikers and drivers, is at the same level as it was in 2014 (at about 17 according to a Boston Globe article). Slowing down cars and improving biking and walking pedestrian infrastructure should help.

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Cape Cod Vs. The Hamptons

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As a Boston resident, I’ve frequently visited the Falmouth area of Cape Cod. As a New York native, I am in the Hamptons every summer for a week or two. In both cases, we visit family and don’t have a place of our own. We don’t want the hassle of owning a second home, but, occasionally, I might day dream about the type of location I would pick for a “country home”. I would start to think about the activities I would want to fill my leisure time with. Hiking, biking, or skiing would lead me to the mountains or the forests. Sun bathing, sailing and swimming would require water and a beach or shore. Another critical choice that is not well considered is how to commute to those leisurely activities. Researchers have shown that people underestimate the cost of long commutes to their well-being when selecting a house (See this Science Blog article). I would guess that individuals who make second home decisions spend little time thinking about how they will get around, unless their main sport is biking.

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Boston’s Parking Congestion Problem: There’s an App for That

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Boston’s population growth has brought congestion and parking problems. But, where are the cars coming from? Suburbanites commuting to work, or city folk who prefer driving to alternatives? A transportation study is coming out in late fall that should shed some light. But, local representatives aren’t waiting for the results to start talking about policy solutions to address parking congestion. Two weeks ago, Councilor Frank Baker called a hearing to discuss parking. At the hearing, Councilor Bill Linehan decried that transportation and parking availability “is one of the central issues facing Boston”. The discussion was heated as some officials want better parking enforcement to address issues such as the abuse of handicapped parking signs while others want to do away with parking in some areas to make room for bike and bus lanes. More details about the hearing are covered in the Boston Herald and the Boston Globe.

One proposal that does seem to generate consensus is increasing parking meter rates. Boston Chief of Streets, Chris Osgood, spoke of this proposal at the hearing and indicated it would include reinvesting parking revenue in the neighborhood where it was collected. Hopefully the revenue will be used for street and sidewalk improvements. Increasing meter rates is one solution. There are others to consider. Controlling and pricing residential parking permits is one. Providing drivers with real-time information about parking spot availability is a related and very important solution. With access to parking spot availability data and pricing, drivers will spend less time searching for parking, or may not bother to drive in the first place (if parking is expensive and hard to find at certain hours). According to MIT’s Senseable City Lab, the average American spends about 50 hours per year just looking for parking, wasting fuel while increasing air pollution and traffic congestion.

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Self-Driving Cars Will Change More Than How We Drive

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Last week I attended a fascinating conference on the future of transportation organized by Transportation for Massachusetts or T4MA. The organizers assembled an impressive list of speakers, including Robin Chase, CEO of ZipCar, Jackie DeWolf, Director of Sustainable Mobility at MassDOT, and Julian Agyeman, Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts. Robin shared her thoughts on autonomous vehicles or AVs (they’ll be tested in Boston at year end!) and how cities can ensure they don’t deliver hell, or more congestion and more pollution. Her opinions and predictions were particularly intriguing, and they are nicely summarized in this Back Channel post and in her cool You Tube video. I also share her most important comments here:

The arrival of AVs will have a profound social, economic and environmental impact. Regulators need to make drastic changes to current regulation across a broad range of policy areas to ensure AVs benefit people and don’t lead to more congestion, pollution and unemployment.
- “If we allow the introduction of autonomous vehicles to be guided by existing regulations we’ll end up with more congestion, millions of unemployed drivers, and a huge deficit in how we fund our transportation infrastructure. We will also miss an opportunity to fix transportation’s hereto intractable reliance on liquid fossil fuels (and their associated pollution)”
Robin believes the solution to our woes lies in AVs that are electric and shareable, including the rides. The economics of a trip on a ride sharing AV will be too attractive for people to pass up (cheaper than a bus ticket) and car ownership will decline rapidly in cities.
- Side note: I don’t see why we even need AVs to be cars. Why not introduce self-driving electric buses for even less congestion.
With fewer cars on the road, there will be less need for parking and cities can convert ugly parking lots into parks or affordable housing units
Shareable AVs will address congestion, pollution, safety and beautify the urban landscape, but what about taxes and jobs?
We need a revamp of how we collect tax revenues from the transportation sector. The gas tax must disappear and be replaced by road user fees based on fuel type, distance traveled and time of travel with the introduction of peak hour pricing. Cars that are roaming the block in search of parking or to wait for a passenger would get taxed more (the technical term is “zombie cars”)
This shift also requires a massive change in our employment system. Automation will lead to unemployment. Robin advocates for a minimum income, and the portability of benefits.
Furthermore, to ensure the arrival of AVs don’t lead to an increase in car ownership by wealthy individuals who can afford a third car, Robin believes governments should be requiring a moratorium on personal AV car ownership for five years. This will give shareable AVs a head start on being used and known as a shareable and green mode of transportation.

Wow! Implementing these massive changes over the course of the next five years will require policy makers to ignore a lot of other important issues and to work like investment bankers. What are the chances of that? These proposals are bold but necessary to build a cleaner, quieter and more just city.

Skedaddle to Gillette Stadium and Beyond

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Last week my husband and I went to a Patriots home game at Gillette stadium. I had a fun time eating popcorn, drinking ONE beer, and watching the Patriots clobber the Texans. Being there was fun, but driving there and back was not as pleasant. I know now that we could have taken the commuter rail that offers a special service from South Station to Gillette on Patriot home games only. The $20 round-trip ticket is worthwhile to avoid traffic, and feel less stressed and tired. In addition to the commuter rail, there is now another way to get to Patriots games, and, more critically, to get to events at Gillette stadium not conveniently serviced by public transportation. We can now use Skedaddle, an app-based crowdsourced travel service that matches groups of people seeking the same destination to luxurious buses. A simple download of the app and account registration allows members to find routes to join, or to set up their own pick-up address and destination. Happy Commutes blog readers get a $10 credit with code 3ca533.

Here’s how the service works. Individuals suggest routes and choose to make them public or private. Routes go live once an additional 9 people sign up. Buses can accommodate very large groups, depending on demand. Skedaddle is a simple concept that addresses multiple use cases:

Planning an event / outing for a large group? Routes can be made private
Feel like getting out of the city to explore nature. There’s a bus going to Great Blue Hill for a sunset hike on October 15, departing from Essex St. in Boston for $26. The organizer will provide snacks and hot cider.

Trips also go out of state. If you have tickets to see the Patriots vs. Cleveland Browns game on October 7, there is a possible bus route going to the stadium in Cleveland from Boston for $166.
Skedaddle is also available to New Yorkers and there are several New York/Boston bus routes organized. Planning to attend The Head of the Charles?, I just saw a return trip from Cambridge to New York for $37.

The route options are diverse and the service is clever about motivating people to post new trips by giving a free ride to the route creator. So, if you set up a route to a popular destination, you will likely ride for free. I love this service for its flexibility, convenience and for the adventures now possible to city dwellers.