First MIC Workshop Event Recap

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Introduction

The Mobility Innovation Collaborative (MIC) is a Shared-Use Mobility Center (SUMC) program supported by the Federal Transit Administration that provides project development technical assistance to nearly 50 FTA grantees and shares lessons learned from innovative mobility projects across the United States to support knowledge exchange. Grantees involved in the program are taking on pilot projects demonstrating new mobility practices relating to different areas of practice including: mobility on demand, data integration, payment integration, novel data sources, and automation. 

On May 16th, 2020, SUMC held its first Mobility Innovation Collaborative Workshop, an interactive event which convened over 50 practitioners from the public and private sectors to discuss key technical issues on mobility innovation and share lessons learned from demonstration projects. This workshop presented an invaluable opportunity to learn from policy makers, transportation planners, experts, and innovators as they navigate the ever-changing mobility landscape. Watch the welcoming remarks!

The workshop included two technical sessions, which covered the topics of innovative funding strategies and capturing ridership data. Workshop attendees also had the opportunity to partake in a mobility innovation readiness survey or interview. Additionally, SUMC hosted the five MIC workgroup monthly meetings.  Take a look at the full agenda here. 

Innovative Funding Session

In the first technical session, three mobility experts at the Federal, State, and local levels presented on potential approaches and opportunities to leverage funding for mobility projects: Karina Ricks, Associate Administrator of Research and Innovation at the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), spoke about federal funding opportunities for innovative project delivery. Will Schroeer, Executive Director of East Metro Strong presented on the importance of working with businesses and citizen communities to have better transit investments and more mobility options. Justin Leighton, Executive Director of the Washington State Transit Association, presented his organization’s work in promoting legislation to increase investments in multimodal transportation and infrastructure.  

• Presentation: Justin Leighton, Washington State Transit Association
• Presentation: Will Schroeer, East Metro Strong

Key takeaways:

Finding funding can be difficult, but there is opportunity to flex federal funds 

Karina Ricks, Associate Administrator of Research and Innovation at the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), noted the ability for transit agencies to flex funds from a huge array of federal highway programs to transit supportive infrastructure. Under U.S. Federal Code, funds from Federal Highway programs can be transferred for public transportation projects so that administrative duties are assigned to the FTA. Due to the complexity of federal funding programs, opportunities like this allow entities to make much needed transit, pedestrian, and bicycle improvements within their transportation networks. While funding still has to be secured through the regular calls for projects, flexing funding is an innovative means of project delivery that is not known to many entities. Eligible programs for flex funding include but are not limited to the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) program as well as the new Carbon Reduction Program that arose from the recently passed bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Flex funding allows investments in any pedestrian project within a half-mile of a fixed-route transit stop and any bicycle infrastructure within three miles of a fixed-route transit stop to maximize transit supported infrastructure and make possible for people to access transit.

Demonstration projects need to be thinking about long term sustainability

One of the top issues that emerged in regards to funding was the long term sustainability of demonstration projects. While pilot projects are a great way for agencies to try out new practices and technologies to address user or agency needs, these initiatives are often funded through one-time investments, meaning that funding streams usually come to a halt after the pilot period ends. William Schroeer reflected that a project can be considered a demonstration project or a service project depending on whether someone looks at it from the mobility service provision exclusively, or from a perspective that also included infrastructure investments and community building efforts.   

Learn from failure

We need to be okay with the public sector trying and failing for innovation to occur. The purpose of pilot programs is to demonstrate new practices and learn if these practices are a viable approach to solving mobility issues. Karina Ricks pointed out that allowing for experimentation and learning from failure is among the six US DOT Innovation Principles released recently. Justin Leighton, Director of WSTA, emphasized that the repercussions of a demonstration pilot failing are a lot more drastic for those leaders and managers in the public sector than those of the private sector. Furthermore, the costs and risks of learning from an innovative demonstration project that does not meet its goals for success is higher for smaller agencies. As a result, there can be a fear from small and mid-size agencies in taking on new pilot projects, which leads to waiting for concepts to be tested by larger agencies and trying to adapt the lessons from those pilots to their own services. 

Demonstration projects bring value to the overall mobility community 

The uncertainty surrounding the state of demonstration projects after a pilot period ends lends us to question the current structure of how we fund transportation innovation. While some are questioning if investment in long-term programs is a better avenue for innovation, there is still value in demonstrating new ideas and practices at a smaller scale. Whether a demonstration project sees success or failure, agencies learn valuable lessons that can be applied toward future mobility projects. Once a demonstration project is nearing completion, agencies should assess whether or not it is in the best interest to continue, expand, or retire the mobility service. In addition, there is a need to make sure demonstration projects do not continually replicate approaches that have been proven to work. While each pilot project’s context is unique, these programs demonstrate practices that can be transferred to multiple contexts. Karina Ricks noted that it could be time to start thinking about governance demonstrations in addition to service delivery demonstrations.

Partnerships bring innovative mobility options to fruition

Due to the limited funding provided through grants and that many transportation funding programs can be siloed, developing innovative partnerships is essential to getting mobility projects on the ground. For example, energy utility companies can participate as innovative funding partners for mobility projects that have an electrification component. In the case of East Metro Strong’s car sharing program, Xcel Energy’s $4 million commitment to build necessary electric vehicle infrastructure prompted the formation of many other project partnerships. With electric companies’ looking to increase energy sales and identify opportunities to promote clean energies, electrified shared modes of transportation offer a unique opportunity for energy companies to meet their goals and contribute to community mobility. Additionally, when establishing partnerships to fund innovative projects, it is important to frame conversations so that they resonate with potential project stakeholders. William Schroeer noted that when establishing a funding partnership with the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul for East Metro Strong’s car sharing project, they made it a point to speak to the city’s goals, thus framing the conversation around how an electric carsharing program supported the city’s equity and climate action plans.

Capturing Ridership Data Session

In the second technical session, three mobility experts presented on the various efforts to go beyond the basic required understanding and reporting of traditional ridership data: Bibiana McHugh, Mobility Manager TriMet, spoke on TriMet’s approach to visualizing and analyzing mobility performance metrics through their Smart Mobility Platform. Omer Verbas, Transportation Engineer at Argonne National Laboratory, presented on how POLARIS, an open-sourced modeling framework used to simulate regional transportation networks, uses a variety of metrics to estimate mobility impacts. Carlos Cruz-Casas, Chief Innovation Officer of Miami-Dade County’s DOT, presented on how his organization leveraged data to make better decisions during their transit network redesign. 

• Presentation: Bibiana McHugh, TriMet
• Presentation: Omer Verbas, Argonne National Laboratory
• Presentation: Carlos Cruz-Casas, Miami-Dade County’s Department of Transportation and Public Works

Key takeaways:

Set a standard that goes beyond the data included in the National Transit Database (NTD). 

All speakers noted that the value of transit and its impacts are not fully captured by the NTD’s current data categories. While having access to how many people are using a transit system is necessary information, these data points do not provide the context of how transit is impacting people’s mobility needs. Moving forward, we need to ask ourselves what are the factors that make people choose to use these modes and work to capture that information. 

Bring together data from different sources to assess mobility options, usage, and access.   

Assessing the multiple factors that affect people’s access to transit depends on more sources than just transit data. Bibiana McHugh explained how transit agencies are integrating a wider variety of sources to their data analysis platforms to capture the different aspects affecting the mobility ecosystem. A more complex and complete mobility dataset enables the development of a multimodal trip planner, supporting transit service planning by visualizing what mobility mode people use, where they transfer between modes, and revealing historical trends in mobility preferences. Omer Verbas showed how integrating multiple sources of data from transportation, demographic, infrastructure, and energy sources can support a sophisticated modeling of social activities, mobility options, and environmental impacts. 

Practitioners need to be thinking about how to communicate and share data with a non-technical audience 

Entities need to be prepared to communicate and share data so that is accessible to their intended audiences. While elected officials may care about the outcomes of how a mobility service is operating, community members may have other concerns or questions regarding the value and impact of mobility services. For those coming from a non-technical background, it can be difficult to convey the value of transit which is why entities should consider collaborating with community anchors. Miami-Dade County Department of Transportation and Public Works partnered with a local transit advocacy group to communicate information regarding their Better Bus Network initiative. Additionally, they’ve recently spearheaded a community liaison program which hires local community members to convey project messaging to the community. 

Visualization platforms present the opportunity for agencies to assess ridership data

Visualizing data from multiple modes can inform how different shared-mode options contribute to the wider mobility ecosystem. Smart Mobility platforms in particular allow metrics to be visualized in real-time, offering viewers an understanding of how these modes work together to fill transportation gaps. Carlos Cruz-Casas noted that mapping transit and micromobility trip activity data allowed his agency to identify micromobility’s role in filling first and last mile connection gaps. Ridership data does not just tell us how many people ride a bus or scooter, it shows us how modes can supplement each other to improve accessibility among communities.