Category: Mobility Lab
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American Cities’ Biggest Transportation Innovation is Decidedly Low-Tech
American cities are adding bus and bike lanes, implementing bikeshare systems, and creating public plazas and miniature parks at a rapid pace. Urban streets, long the domain of automobiles, are increasingly being reclaimed by and for the people, a change that amounts to the biggest transportation innovation in recent years, according to a new report […]
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Transit’s Surprising Advantage is Sitting Right in Your Pocket
With public-transit use riding a 58-year high of 10.8 billion trips last year, it only makes sense to ask: why? Technology may be partially responsible for public transit’s record ridership, but probably not in the way you think. As smartphones and other electronic devices have skyrocketed in popularity, more people are becoming dependent on them (much to the chagrin […]
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What Would Make Your Commute Better?
Jeff Bezos‘ $250 million purchase of The Washington Post in 2014 changed the direction of the newspaper in some fairly significant ways. Among them: The Posts’s focus became less local and more global, it began expanding digital access dramatically (promoted by the Kindle, of course), and started spending some serious cash on events. One of these events is the America Answers series. Begun in […]
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Uber’s Plan for Self-Driving Cars Will Make its Taxi Disruption Look Quaint
Uber has fundamentally changed the taxi industry. But its biggest disruption may be yet to come. The ride-hailing company has invested in autonomous-vehicle research, and its CEO Travis Kalanick (pictured above) has indicated that consumers can expect a driverless Uber fleet by 2030. Uber expects its service to be so inexpensive and ubiquitous as to make […]
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When ‘To Protect and Serve’ Becomes ‘To Shame and Ridicule’
The disparity between the “haves” and “have nots” is perhaps nowhere more striking than in New York City. One end of the economic spectrum is best symbolized by the array of new condominium skyscrapers reshaping the city’s skyline (top price, $95 million). Pan down 1,000 feet or so, and the economics shift just as precipitously. At […]
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New Research Reveals the Cost of Sprawl to Municipal Coffers
Ever since the Roman Empire, local governments have had great control over land use. Today, this control is exerted through zoning regulations, tax policies, and infrastructure-investment decisions. Municipalities can choose to develop in an unconnected, low-density, suburban-style manner, or they can consider more compact, connected urban land uses. These decisions have enormous implications for a […]
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D.C. Entrepreneurs Still Focused on Transportation
Washington D.C.-based shared-ride company Split was one of two transportation startups who participated in the Tech.Co Startup Competition last month, showing that Washington remains a prolific incubator of transportation-related startups, and that entrepreneurs believe there are additional transportation problems that need solving. Split, which has been operational since May of this year, is an app-enabled […]
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Businesses are Moving Back Downtown
The deciding factor in Panasonic’s move of its North American headquarters from Secaucus, New Jersey to Newark was public transportation, according to Jim Reilly, vice president of corporate communications. The company relocated from a large corporate campus with lots of green space to an amenity-rich downtown location. Reilly said his company’s relocation has been “transformative” […]
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Slow Down! And Four Other Rules to Make People Love Cyclists
Just as there are two Americas, there are two types of cyclists. First, there are the Cyclists with a capital “C,” clad in Lycra and obsessed with speed. These cyclists probably spent upwards of $1,000 on a bike, are often male, and everything about them signals that cycling is not for mere mortals. These adrenaline […]
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D.C. Housing May be Less Expensive than the Suburbs
The conventional wisdom is that living in the city is much more expensive than living outside of it. Taxes, entertainment, and groceries all add up to a slightly higher cost of living in the city. Housing, though, is the expense that tips the scales decidedly in favor of the suburbs. Or does it? With car […]
Paul Goddin 