Parking & Curb Management

After creating the Mobility Data Specification tool, a set of data standards for cities to collect data from mobility-as-a-service companies, the nonprofit Open Mobility Foundation (OMF) is rolling out similar standards that will provide open communication about curb space. 

OMF’s Curb Data Specification (CDS) is a set of application programming interfaces (APIs) for cities, delivery companies, ride-hailing companies and other users to digitally share curb information. Eventually, the system could be used to inform dynamic curb policies affecting curb use in real time. OMF announced a release candidate, or beta version, of the CDS last week.

The release, which comes after more than a year of work, still needs to go through OMF’s governance process and incorporate feedback from early users, the foundation said. 

The initiative is designed to address the problem of crowded curb spaces due to taxi pickup and drop-offs, delivery companies, idling trucks, food service and private cars, which has always been a sticking point for cities, especially with a web of parking and idling laws governing the space. The COVID-19 pandemic "took a rough situation at the curb and made it even worse," said OMF Interim Executive Director Angela Giacchetti.

The increase in delivery drivers stopping on streets and the push for restaurants and small businesses to expand their outside space further complicated the use of curbs, Giacchetti said, leading OMF’s city members to look for a digital tool. 

"With so many users on the curb, this was something we were hearing about from cities a lot," Giacchetti said. "With all of these modes and tools, not everyone speaks the same language. Creating a common language and a standard unlocks cities’ ability to work with all these different vendors."

Although there have been some concerns from users, and even some providers, about data privacy, OMF’s Mobility Data Specification (MDS) tool has allowed cities to gather more data about micromobility providers and craft industrywide regulations and policies. The hope is that CDS can do the same for curbs, creating what Giacchetti called a "virtuous cycle" where additional data leads to dynamic regulations. 

Cities could use the data to create digital representations of physical infrastructure and regulations that they can communicate easily to curb users. That could, in turn, allow delivery companies to coordinate schedules or ride-hailing companies to use more flexible pickup and drop-off areas. Philadelphia will integrate the standards into its Smart Loading Zone pilot, which seeks to test different software applications to more efficiently use commercial loading space by offering digital availability and reservation information. 

CDS joins other curb data efforts. Data company Coord released Open Curbs as part of its broader Curbs API tool, which collects information on curb infrastructure, painting and curb rules. Companies like Mapillary have also worked to give cities the ability to digitize their parking sign information to create a better understanding of curb use. 

Harris Lummis, co-founder and CTO of the curb management company Automotus, said that more efficient curb use should create less congested and safer streets. Automotus, which works with cities and airports on sensor-based systems that measure curb activity and automate parking payments, was a participant in the working group for CDS. 

"This is a big benefit for everyone," Lummis said. "For us, implementing new projects in any new space becomes much easier if we have a way to universally reconcile different providers and sensor operators. This will reduce friction when launching in a new city."

A new pilot project to install electric vehicle chargers on light poles in Kansas City, Missouri, could reduce one of the most commonly cited barriers to greater electric vehicle adoption: The lack of accessible charging infrastructure. The barriers are especially acute for the millions of Americans who don't have garages.

Most personal EV charging — about 80% — occurs at home, usually overnight in a garage or in a carport. But according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2019 American Housing Survey, more than one-third of U.S. homeowners — and nearly two-thirds of renters — do not have a garage or carport, which creates a significant barrier to at-home EV charging. The lack of access to garages and public EV charging is especially apparent in low-income communities and communities of color. 

Kansas City's pilot project, which launched in summer 2021, aims to reduce those barriers by bringing an emerging charging solution to residents in an equitable way. The Metropolitan Energy Center (MEC), a nonprofit dedicated to energy efficiency and environmental health in the region, spearheaded the project to install EV chargers on existing streetlights in residential neighborhoods that anyone can pay a fee to use. 

"There's a big gap with EV charging for renters and people who don't own their home," said Miriam Bouallegue, project manager for sustainable transportation at MEC. "They don't have the ability to install an outlet and may not have a designated parking spot if they live in a complex. With curbside charging, people can just park their cars like they normally would and plug in."

Public and private partners for the pilot include the city of Kansas City; the Missouri University of Science and Technology; the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL); utility Evergy; utility and construction consultant Black & McDonald; e-mobility consultant EVNoire; and charging infrastructure company LilyPad EV. The U.S. Department of Energy provided funding, and project partners are providing in-kind contributions. The charging station owners, not the city, will handle ongoing operating and maintenance costs.

Explaining that DOE is flexible with the funding criteria for this project to allow for trailblazing and changing course as necessary, Erin Nobler, NREL project manager, said, "This is a fairly new area for transportation planners... It takes time and is frustrating — but that's a good thing... We're all so used to funding efforts where we have to hit milestones and deliverables. But it is OK and encouraged to pivot... We're looking for the best solution, not the easiest."

One goal is to increase the number of chargers in areas of Kansas City where EV adoption is high but there is not much charging infrastructure. Another goal is to prioritize infrastructure installations in areas where EV adoption is low to spur greater technology acceptance and adoption. 

"With the [installations] being curbside, they're very visible to the public," Bouallegue said. "Often, chargers are in garages and not visible so people think, 'How can I buy an electric vehicle when I've never seen a charger?' We want to... encourage more EV adoption by showing people that public charging is available if they purchase an EV."

The process

The project started with a lot of research, data gathering and analysis. A geospatial analysis determined possible locations for the chargers, and a market demand model determined which factors influence charging need and behaviors. 

Partners analyzed which streetlights can technically support curbside charging based on factors like voltage, control mechanisms and proximity to the curb. Plus, some streetlights in Kansas City only carry power at night and would therefore need upgrades to enable daytime charging. An analysis pinpointed priority areas based on demographics including income, home rentership and EV ownership levels.

Community engagement is a key component of this project. After ensuring the effort would be technically feasible, organizers began holding virtual community meetings and compensated the first 100 participants for their time. They presented potential charging infrastructure locations and gathered feedback on why those sites would or would not work well for community members.

"We're starting with the community first. We're not just pushing a solution but trying to understand their needs," Nobler said. "They are experts in their community, just like we're experts in technology."

Partners initially identified 300 potential charging sites but whittled down the list and now anticipate installing 30 to 60 chargers, depending on final costs. Final site selection will happen soon and installations are scheduled to take place later this year.

"We also have to keep in mind equity across the city. Installing equipment in some areas might cost more," Bouallegue said. "That's a balancing act we are taking into account: reduce the cost, make sure these chargers go where they're most needed and make sure there is a balanced distribution across the city." 

After the chargers have been in place for a period of time, the partners will conduct a final analysis that looks at factors including infrastructure utilization rates, changes in EV purchase rates or car-sharing programs in the community, who uses the new chargers, how do they use them and when.

"That analysis hopefully will inform future efforts to expand streetlight charging in the city and elsewhere," Bouallegue said.

Pole power

Pole-mounted EV chargers have already seen some traction in Europe, including in London and Essen, Germany. But few U.S. cities have undertaken this task, and the lack of a road map makes it more challenging, Bouallegue said. About a dozen U.S. cities have seriously investigated the concept, but only five, including four besides Kansas City, actually have undertaken infrastructure installations, said Vishant Kothari, manager of electric vehicle-grid integration at World Resource Institute (WRI). The other cities include Lancaster, California; Los Angeles; Melrose, Massachusetts; and Portland, Oregon.

WRI connected with Kansas City for inclusion in a pole-mounted charging infrastructure study it launched in January 2021. WRI began the project largely to address the lack of accessible EV charging infrastructure in the U.S. which, among a host of other factors, is caused by high costs and the need for infrastructure space on already crowded streetscapes, Kothari said. 

"With this in mind, we found that pole-mounted charging infrastructure can offer a solution, and we began to dive in deeper," Kothari said. "We found out from U.S. cities that there exists no real source of information and guidance to help them plan pole-mounted charging. That began our research into this area."

WRI released its findings in a comprehensive pole-mounted charging infrastructure guide in fall 2021. It examines two main solutions: mounting chargers on existing streetlights and on utility poles. Both types of equipment typically power the charger by tapping into the electricity fed to the pole.

One factor for choosing streetlight mounts is whether the light is high-pressure sodium or LED. In recent years many areas have switched to LED lamps, which are more efficient, yet the streetlight energy capacity often is not reduced accordingly to account for the adjustment and efficiency gains. This creates an energy gap that can be capitalized upon with a charging port.

Another big consideration is how much voltage each pole carries. Streetlights often carry 110 to 120 volts (V), which is only suitable for a Level 1 charger. However, utility poles typically carry thousands of volts, which is more suitable for Level 2 chargers' 208-240V connections, the preferred option for public space installations.

"The best type of pole depends heavily on local context," Kothari said, adding that equity and accessibility must be built into the planning process to maximize the benefits of pole-mounted chargers.

Like WRI, the Kansas City project organizers hope their final report helps other cities tackle pole-mounted EV charging projects.

"This is hard and takes time," Nobler said. "I absolutely hope other communities can do and take it a step further."

Cities should directly subsidize micromobility networks in order to make the shared bikes and scooters work in conjunction with public transit, Lyft Head of Transit and Micromobility Policy Caroline Samponaro said in January.

Speaking at the Micromobility World 2022 virtual conference, Samponaro said that public subsidies would be “critical” to helping micromobility companies deliver “great, city-wide service” even in less profitable, low-density neighborhoods. “For pennies on the dollar, you’re expanding the reach of the transit system and creating a connected network” for all city residents, she said. 

Earlier at the conference, Bird CEO Travis VanderZanden said cities also need to invest more heavily in bike and scooter infrastructure, especially adding parking, in order to boost the industry. “It still surprises me there is not one dedicated micro EV [electric vehicle] parking space on every city block,” VanderZanden said, adding that parking is “becoming the constraint” to growth.

Despite concerns that the COVID-19 pandemic would stall the industry’s growth, micromobility has boomed in the past year, cementing more relationships with cities and notching significant investor growth. Notably, Bird went public in a November 2021 deal that valued the company at $2.3 billion. An August 2021 report from McKinsey & Co. found the market could reach a global consumer spending potential of between $300 billion and $500 billion by 2030. 

To get there, however, VanderZanden said the industry will need to continue to innovate, with support from its city partners. In his first public appearance since Bird went public, the CEO said the industry is still waiting for its “iPhone moment,” or the technological breakthrough that will cement it as a revolutionary mobility form. That will include vehicle innovation beyond the e-bike and e-scooter, he said, as well as software innovation. Bird has also said it would use some of the revenue from its public debut to enter new cities.

Ultimately, VanderZanden said, the goal is to use micromobility to support a more sustainable mobility network that allows people to navigate short city trips without driving. “The gas car is really the ultimate competition,” he said. 

Likewise, Lyft’s Samponaro said the company —  which operates New York City’s CitiBike, the largest docked bike-share network outside of China — aims to “be more like a public transit system,” connecting all neighborhoods and parts of the city. Right now, she said, due to the economics of fleets, companies have to focus on dense neighborhoods with higher ridership, but it would be a public good to make sure vehicles are available beyond those high-profit areas.

That would require a shift from the industry’s early days of economic independence when many bristled at regulatory intervention. Samponaro said the sector's growth would require "changes to the current approach," including a new look at funding and how micromobility can be integrated into the public right-of-way.

“At the end of the day, micromobility can be an accelerant or it can come to be seen as a reinforcement of two-wheeled things being an intrusion in the public right-of-way. I think we’re at a crossroads,” she said.

More cities have taken a hands-on approach to expanding micromobility offerings, both by using pilot programs and regulations to spread them across the city and by integrating them into transit offerings. Pittsburgh, for example, made sure to include micromobility as part of its universal basic mobility push. However, cities have had to confront the reality that ridership is not equally distributed. Chicago, for example, reported in spring 2021 that its pilot showed limited ridership in certain low-income neighborhoods. 

Samponaro said the industry and policymakers must weigh the best strategies for making micromobility work for all communities. “A lot’s at stake in figuring out how to make a program work in a mid-sized [or] small city for all of us,” she said. “The sign that we’re really healthy as an industry is if we see those examples and they’re successful.” 

New and refurbished commercial and multi-unit buildings in Washington, D.C., that have at least three off-road parking spaces will be required to make at least 20% of those spaces available to accommodate electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, under a new law that took effect this year. 

The new requirement came in response to public concern that families in apartment buildings or without garages did not have access to EV chargers, a barrier to purchasing a car, said Eric Campbell, program analyst for the District of Columbia's Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE). The make-ready rule, which was approved unanimously by the city council in November 2020, is part of the city’s goal to have at least 25% of new vehicles registered by 2030 be zero-emissions.

Similar make-ready requirements have been adopted or introduced over the past year in cities including Orlando, Florida, Pittsburgh and Salt Lake City as part of a broad effort to increase EV access. The California Public Utilities Commission also approved rules requiring utilities to provide certain make-ready infrastructure to customers at no cost, reducing the price to install new chargers at homes and businesses.

The make-ready approach is a recognition of some of the district's unique characteristics, Campbell said, like the high volume of commuters to downtown areas and a concentration of multi-unit dwelling that are traditionally more difficult to outfit with chargers. Having at least 20% of parking spaces in downtown buildings and apartment buildings be outfitted for chargers, will make it easier for people to drive EVs in the district and ensure that chargers are distributed throughout the city, he said. 

With transportation accounting for 24% of the district's greenhouse gas emissions, any tools to incentivize EVs are crucial to meeting its climate goals, Campbell said. 

"It can be easy to focus narrowly on the chicken or egg problem, whether policies are needed to boost purchases of EVs or to create infrastructure," he said. "What we’re trying to do is make a chicken omelet and grow both sides at the same time."

The bill passed by the city council will require that DOEE incentivize developers to go beyond the 20% space requirement, while also allowing the mayor to promote regulations that would allow financial hardship waivers, accounting for concerns that EV chargers can add to housing and development costs. 

The parking requirements also come as the Biden administration is working to use funds from the $1.2 trillion infrastructure law to ramp up EV infrastructure. Under a plan released in December, the administration is seeking to create a "convenient and equitable network" of 500,000 chargers using $7.5 billion from the bill. 

Andrea McCarthy, program manager for the Electrification Coalition, said make-ready ordinances are "a quick way" to increase EV adoption by not just putting more charging at multi-unit dwellings, but also at other major buildings or parking structures in cities. More than 30 municipalities have passed such requirements, according to Electrification Coalition data, with policies tailored to the needs and dynamics of each region, McCarthy said.

"We feel this is an important aspect to increasing access to electric vehicles and a way to equitably add more charging for communities," she said. "As more adoption occurs, the next wave of EV owners are those that need charging outside of single-family homes, maybe in areas where they won’t have a dedicated parking spot."

Tony Jordan, president of the Parking Reform Network, said that while EV infrastructure is a necessary step to ensure that people purchase and drive cleaner vehicles, make-ready requirements ignore a bigger environmental question: whether new parking is necessary at all.

"What if instead of saying a certain number of spaces need to be EV ready, we said we don’t require parking at all, but if you do want it should be EV ready and powered by solar,” Jordan said. “We can’t keep adding cars to cities. Part of what we’re saying is that we should let people live in places where there’s less dependence on automobiles or even electric vehicles altogether."

Jersey City, New Jersey, is working on what it says is the nation’s first holistic network of secure bike parking after reaching an agreement with Brooklyn-based Oonee to install up to 30 protected lockers.

Oonee will provide enclosed, locked facilities for bikes and scooters that can double as placemaking installations. For example, lockers located near bus stops can double as transit shelters by offering covered seating, said Barkha Patel, Jersey City director of transportation planning. 

The installations will be “integrated with other sustainable modes,” Patel said, with lockers situated near transit stops and areas where public events are held. "This will help us create a culture where people are willing to leave the car at home for a day because they know they can get around on more appealing options," she said.

So nice, @ooneepod. So. Nice. #BikeNYC pic.twitter.com/UCSDryHuHC

— Mike Lydon (@MikeLydon) December 5, 2021

As the popularity of cycling has boomed during the pandemic, many cities have boosted spending on bike infrastructure to capitalize on the trend. A recent report from StreetLight Data found that bike activity in major cities was up 10% compared to pre-pandemic levels; the report found that the New York-Newark-Jersey City metro area rose from the 87th metro area in terms of bike ridership to 46th between July 2020 and July 2021. 

Patel said that Jersey City has already taken significant steps to foster a cycling culture, including by building 6.7 miles of protected bike lanes, with another 2.7 miles planned, and even retrofitting street cleaning vehicles to be narrow enough to maintain bike lanes. But residents, especially commuters who would be gone all day, said they were concerned about bike security. 

"We got a good sense of this during the development of our bicycle master plan in 2018 and 2019, asking questions about what is keeping people from cycling more often,” Patel said. "This issue really rose to the top, with people concerned about bike theft because they had heard about it or experienced it themselves. It made them not want to ride for certain trips when they’d be leaving the bike for a long time.”

According to data shared by Bike Index, a nonprofit that allows people to register and report stolen bikes, there have been 18,377 bikes reported as stolen on its service from January to early December 2021, along with 18,594 stolen in 2020. That represented a significant jump from the 11,378 reported stolen in 2019. Lily Williams, communications director for the group, noted that the data was only self-reported and "real numbers are presumably significantly higher than this."

A January 2021 report from New York-based Transportation Alternatives found that 95% of cyclists want more parking. "Placing bicycle parking near transit, businesses, schools and on every block will send a strong signal that biking is safe, effective and available for all New Yorkers," the group wrote, comparing parking to the “visual landmark” of Citi Bike stations. 

Oonee in September 2021 announced the installation of 40 stations across New York and New Jersey by the end of 2022, with spaces for a total of 1,500 bikes. The company’s pods can be customized with features like green roofs, seating, lighting, custom cladding and digital screens for announcements and advertisements. The company also offers a pod designed to fit in a street parking space, utilizing existing infrastructure. 

The company has also announced a partnership with the Equitable Commute Project to propose up to 14 pods to be installed in South Bronx communities for free in an effort to expand service to low-income and frontline essential workers. 

For the Jersey City pilot, Oonee will install seven stations in three months at no cost to the city, while earning revenue from advertisements. Depending on revenue benchmarks, the network can be expanded to up to 30 stations, although Patel said the city could install even more, with an eye towards integrating them into the city’s existing mobility infrastructure network. 

"This just speaks to the fact that we are thinking about bicycling from every angle," Patel said. "This is not a performative thing, this is something that we want to make succeed in every way over the years."

Beyond the obvious health crisis precipitated by COVID-19, the pandemic sparked massive unemployment, which, in turn, exacerbated the nation’s already overwhelming homelessness crisis.

Pre-pandemic, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development estimated that more than 580,000 people nationally were living on the streets on any given night, nearly half of whom were in California. Over the next four years, that number is expected to increase by 49%, according to research recently conducted by California’s Economic Roundtable. Another 2.7 million homeowners nationwide were in COVID-19 forbearance in February 2021, according to the White House.

While there are clearly no easy answers to an issue that seems destined to become even worse in the not-too-distant future, one solution may be found in yet another pre-pandemic issue: a rapidly declining demand for parking space in the heart of America’s cities. 

Thanks in large part to a significant rise in the number of workers living within walking or biking distance to their jobs and a marked increase in the use of ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft, garages and parking lots located in central business districts (CBDs) were seeing a significant drop-off in their business long before the pandemic made working from home a necessity.

Even today, with life getting somewhat back to normal, this trend seems unlikely to change as numerous employers turn to flexible work schedules in response to the productivity their employees exhibited while working remotely throughout the pandemic. That means fewer people driving into CBDs on a daily basis and, in turn, less demand for parking in downtown garages.

Remote work has also had a devastating effect on the restaurants, dry cleaners, and other small businesses which depend on those workers to keep their operations afloat. As these businesses have been forced to cut back on staffing or close altogether, the garages which provided regular parking for their customers and employees have again been impacted negatively. 

Add to this the increased emphasis the Biden administration – and many cities around the country – have placed on climate action and the need to limit automobile use, and a scenario emerges that is making an already difficult situation for garage operators nearly impossible. Many operators are being forced to confront the fact that their businesses may never rebound to the levels they enjoyed just five short years ago. Certainly, that prospect is at the heart of many operators, such as one of Washington, D.C.’s largest parking firms, which made the decision to declare bankruptcy.

Some operators have been fortunate enough to own lots or garages that sit on prime parcels of center-city land. For them, selling their property might represent a viable option, although with demand for office and adjacent retail space declining, this is not as profitable a solution as it was prior to COVID-19. In 2016, for example, more than 200 parking lots in the U.S. were sold for redevelopment – more than double the number of lots sold from 2006 through 2014.

Operators today are unlikely to see anything approaching that level unless they settle on a sale price far below pre-pandemic market rates. 

Faced with this untenable situation, some parking operators have come up with a more resourceful approach. Throughout the COVID-19 lockdown, some garages leased their facilities for a variety of alternative uses. Some garages were transformed into outside dining areas or makeshift drive-in movie theaters, while others were used to house pop-up warehouses, storage units and parking for Amazon delivery fleets.

Recognizing the success of these efforts and the growing homelessness crisis, enterprising operators are now lobbying planning and zoning boards in cities around the country to relax restrictions so that they can retrofit their under-used garages to provide affordable living space for families.

The retrofits themselves are relatively easy to do. While there are some problems – garages, after all, simply weren’t designed for people to live in them – several companies have pioneered the development of inexpensive, prefabricated living units, or pods. Because existing garages use nearly universal dimensions, these pods can easily be plugged into the concrete shells of most facilities. They are also constructed in a way that takes advantage of the vertical circulation and utility connections already incorporated into the garage.

While there are other issues involved in a garage retrofit, including low ceilings, sloped floors, and an inability to handle the same weight loads, the real problem seems to arise from the reluctance of many planning and zoning boards to accommodate garage conversions. Regulations requiring developers to include a certain number of parking spaces for each new residential unit, prohibitions against converting a commercial property, and state-specific rules like California’s seismic standards have all combined to discourage garage operators from retrofitting their facilities.

Despite such impediments, the success of units such as a derelict 500-car garage in Wichita, Kansas, that was recently converted into 44 one-bedroom apartments demonstrates that such conversions are not only possible, but can play an important role in addressing this country’s longstanding problems with affordable housing and homelessness. Moreover, by making these half-empty garages viable again, cities nationwide can take major strides toward keeping their CBDs vibrant in the face of a future that seems likely to be less dependent on daily commuter traffic.

 

Backed by state funding, a tech company is installing 120 electric vehicle chargers at apartment complexes throughout California in an effort to remove obstacles that prevent lower-income renters and residents from owning EVs.

The company, EVmatch, received a more than $700,000 grant from the California Energy Commission (CEC) to deploy the charging stations in the parking lots and garages of apartment buildings in Santa Clara, Los Angeles, and San Diego counties. The exact neighborhoods have not yet been determined, but the company plans to target properties where residents face major barriers to owning and charging EVs, said founder and CEO Heather Hochrein.

California has programs in place that address upfront purchase costs and financing of EVs, so increasing access to charging infrastructure is “the last piece of the puzzle,”  said Katherine Stainken, senior director of EV policy at the Electrification Coalition.

EVmatch is a peer-to-peer platform that allows EV owners to connect with homes and businesses that are selling the use of their chargers through the app. The company received a $728,250 grant from the CEC through its BESTFIT Innovative Charging Solutions initiative and also chipped in over $400,000 from its own coffers, according to Toan Lam, a spokesperson for the commission. The CEC is working on a separate grant program to provide charging stations in rural California communities.

EVmatch is installing Level 2  charging stations, which are considered one of the more affordable charging options, but they take about 8 to 10 hours to power up a car from zero charge to 100%, Hochrein said. The stations will be available to the public during some hours of the day and at all hours to building residents. 

Convenient charging solutions for people who live in apartments can be crucial. More than 80% of EV owners charge their vehicles at home. However, about one-third of the U.S. population does not have a garage or carport where they can charge their vehicle. 

EV ownership in California specifically is still dominated by people who live in detached housing or who own homes, Lam said. In Santa Clara, 35% of residents live in apartments, but only 9% of county residents who received EV rebates through a state program live in such a dwelling, he said. Similar ratios are seen in Los Angeles and San Diego counties, Lam added.

California needs the speedy installation of new charging stations to meet the lofty mandate Gov. Gavin Newsom set in an executive order issued in 2020 banning the sale of new non-zero-emission passenger vehicles by 2035. More chargers are also needed nationwide. President Joe Biden in August 2021 restored and bolstered Obama-era tailpipe emissions rules for 2023-model-year vehicles and signed an executive order calling for a goal of half of all vehicles sold in the U.S. being EVs by 2030.

EVmatch plans to finish rolling out the 120 charging stations by the end of 2023. The initiative will provide charging access to over 20,000 renters throughout the state, many of whom have opted out of purchasing an EV due to limited charging access, Hochrein said. 

Efforts to target charging stations at apartment complexes also could help ease range anxiety, since it would allow them to conveniently charge their car overnight, Stainken said. 

The upfront cost of an EV is expected to match gas vehicles on price by 2024 or 2025, and there are a number of incentives that can bring that price down. Further, due to lower operating and maintenance expenses, the cost of owning an EV throughout its lifespan is often lower than that of a gas vehicle, according to Consumer Reports. 

“This collaboration is definitely going to break down barriers to EV adoption,” Stainken said. “We need to get the infrastructure in place as the cost of EVs declines even further.”

New York City’s Meatpacking District will permanently adopt an Open Streets program that was piloted during the COVID-19 pandemic, closing off several blocks to vehicle traffic. 

The Meatpacking Business Improvement District (BID) adopted an open streets initiative under a New York City pilot program in 2020, using temporary barriers to bar cars and trucks from several blocks in the lower Manhattan neighborhood. The district announced in August 2021 it will now erect new barricades to convert six blocks to pedestrian thoroughfares as part of the city’s effort to make its Open Streets program permanent. 

BID Executive Director Jeffrey LeFrancois said there has been "no negative feedback" from businesses, who have seen more foot traffic. "The streets are more like a plaza, it’s just become a more pleasant place to be as a pedestrian."

The street closing was an example of how, early in the pandemic, cities took rapid action to turn over streets to pedestrians and bikers. A combination of the need to socialize outside and plummeting downtown traffic meant that right of way changes, which normally take months of planning, occurred immediately. These transformations gave American cities a taste of the open streets concept more familiar in Europe. 

LeFrancois said the change was especially well-received in the Meatpacking District. Beyond having more pedestrians and bikers taking advantage of empty cobblestone streets, LeFrancois said the street closures allowed businesses to "quite literally think of the neighborhood as a canvas." In 2020, the BID hosted an outdoor theater production where audience members sat on the curb and sidewalks. It also hosted the L.E.A.F. festival of flowers in June 2021, which LeFrancois said would not have been as successful without the long-term traffic closures.

"Really the only frustration we see is from drivers who think they have the right to be on any road they want," he said. 

As the city eyes its recovery from the pandemic, Mayor Bill de Blasio signed legislation in spring 2021 to make the Open Streets program permanent. He also announced an "Open Boulevards" initiative to expand 10 multi-block corridors for outdoor dining, cultural activities and art installations. For its Open Streets program, the Meatpacking District will install hexagonal planters at the ends of streets, which can be moved for emergency vehicles. 

Other cities have struggled with whether or how to extend open streets programs that started during the pandemic. Denver announced in August that it would end its temporary shared streets program, slowly returning traffic to seven streets that had been shut off to traffic. However, the city said it recognized the popularity of the program and plans to develop guidelines around a potentially permanent shared streets program in the city. 

DCist reported in July that Washington, D.C., would reopen a stretch of street in the Adams Morgan neighborhood that was originally closed to traffic amid the pandemic. Meanwhile, California legislators are considering a bill that would make it easier for cities to adopt open or slow streets, which dedicate more space to people outside of cars.

In New York, LeFrancois said other BIDs have reached out to him about continuing their own open streets programs. National organizations have also offered assistance to community groups. The National Association of City Transportation Officials, with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies, gave 10 cities $50,000 in grants to support community engagement around open and slow streets. 

Mark Gorton, founder of Open Plans and a livable streets advocate, said the Meatpacking District had a unique combination of factors that made it an obvious spot for permanent Open Streets. The neighborhood sits on a slightly different grid from other streets and it has wealthy business owners and residents and a "consensus-building process that has built support," he said. However, that doesn’t mean other neighborhoods can’t replicate their success,  Gorton said. 

"You can see bit by bit that this is changing, and neighborhoods are reclaiming more space," Gorton said. "This is not going to be a top-down effort, it will bubble up as neighborhood after neighborhood realizes how popular this is and how it’s possible to happen anywhere."

The Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) will study zero-emission delivery and electric vehicle (EV) use by commercial fleets with the support of a $3.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), part of a broader federal grant program to decarbonize transportation.

The DOE’s $60 million grant program will fund 24 projects targeting the electrification of passenger cars and light- and heavy-duty trucks, part of the Biden administration’s goal to move the country toward electric vehicles. The projects include research into new battery technology, vehicle materials, traffic management and mobility tools. 

The LACI grant will support work exploring commercial electric trucks in three cities — Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, and Santa Monica, California — including an expansion of an ongoing pilot in Santa Monica. In Pittsburgh, the funding will support a curbside parking pilot on smart loading zones in high-traffic areas and examine the role electrification could play in those areas.

The effort was announced in August 2021, shortly after President Joe Biden signed an executive order with a goal of having half of all new vehicles sold in the U.S. in 2030 be electric, addressing the sector of the American economy that generates the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions. Getting to that goal, however, will require a broad suite of efforts to make vehicles more affordable and usable across many sectors, not just light passenger cars. 

“Fossil-fuel powered cars and trucks are a leading cause of air pollution and carbon emissions, and that is why we are focusing on decarbonizing the transportation sector to achieve President Biden’s climate goals,” U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement. 

The grants from DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Vehicles Technology Office will help support pilot projects on alternative uses of EVs and other technologies that support their deployment. 

For example, a nearly $3.6 million grant will go to Xtelligent, a Los Angeles-based company working on connected traffic signals that can improve the efficiency of freight delivery. A separate grant exceeding $4.3 million will go to Boston-based Optimus Ride for a partnership with Clemson University, the University of California, Berkeley, and Argonne National Laboratory to deploy a fleet of autonomous shuttles on Clemson’s campus. The researchers will use the three-year deployment to study rider behavior, vehicle performance and the environmental benefits of electric autonomous vehicles (AVs). 

“What we learn can easily translate to other university campuses, and energy savings can scale up in larger metropolitan areas,” said Ardalan Vahidi, a Clemson transportation researcher working on the project, in a statement. He emphasized the savings in time, money, and stress for students, as well as the lower carbon footprint, from the university providing free satellite parking and AV shuttles “that show up predictably and frequently to chauffeur them around campus.”

The LACI project, meanwhile, will target the last mile of goods delivery, part of a larger effort to electrify the heavy- and medium-duty truck and freight sector. Los Angeles has a goal of electrifying 5% of heavy-duty trucks and 60% of medium-duty trucks by 2028. LACI also has used a pilot project in Santa Monica to explore how curbside management can facilitate zero-emission vehicles for goods delivery. The DOE grant will help build on that program and expand it to Los Angeles and Pittsburgh, said LACI President and CEO Matt Petersen. 

“Working on both coasts, this connection creates an opportunity to make other cities pay attention to ways to prioritize zero-emission vehicles in our urban cores and business districts,” Petersen said. “Pittsburgh is a city in the industrial heartland, Los Angeles is coastal, but there’s a lot that can be shared between them as we look to prioritize the curb for zero-emissions trucks.”

Other EERE grants will address electrification in the freight sector. A $324,000 project for Delaware’s ElectroTempo will study truck charging demand, while an approximately $340,000 grant for the Rocky Mountain Institute will project and optimize truck charging data. Another nearly $293,000 grant will fund a Colorado State University research project into bottom-up adoption of electric trucks. 

In mid-September, bicycle advocates and members of the Bill de Blasio administration gathered on the Brooklyn Bridge to celebrate the first reconfiguration of the landmark in more than 70 years. In an event de Blasio called “a symbol of New York City fully embracing a sustainable future and striking a blow against car culture,” the city unveiled a protected bike lane replacing a lane of traffic long given over to cars. 

Now bicyclists will be able to ride in a dedicated lane and won’t have to battle with pedestrians and picture-taking tourists to cross the East River between Brooklyn and lower Manhattan, a crucial step to the city’s promise of a fully connected, five-borough bike network. 

“Without bike-friendly infrastructure on bridges, commuting across boroughs just isn’t possible,” said Juan Restrepo, senior organizer at New York-based Transportation Alternatives. “We’re working on a citywide network that mimics the highway system for the U.S. Connectivity is key.”

This transformation is the first reconfiguration of the iconic bridge since trolley tracks were permanently removed in 1950 (????via @nycrecords)

“This is a historic moment as we work to get New Yorkers out of their cars & promote sustainable modes of transportation” -Cmsr Gutman pic.twitter.com/4BQBZlTT1M

— NYC DOT (@NYC_DOT) September 14, 2021

The redesigned Brooklyn Bridge is part of an estimated 30 miles of bike lane New York City planned to add in 2021, the most by the city in a single year (the previous record was 2020's 28.6 miles). While car buying boomed during the COVID-19 pandemic, bicycling has as well. That's prompted cities to take a harder look at turning piecemeal bike infrastructure into robust networks, with support from the Biden administration.

Caron Whitaker, deputy executive director of the League of American Bicyclists, said the administration's push for climate-friendly transportation and public interest in biking have helped made bike infrastructure an easier sell — after decades of it being relegated to a novelty with just a small percentage of transportation funding.

“Cities see the benefit of biking and are looking for more ways to accommodate it, especially after COVID,” said Whitaker. “Certainly we’re seeing a lot of interest from the administration in terms of promoting complete streets and improving safety and equity.”

The de Blasio administration's blitz to turn over some roadway space to bikers and pedestrians includes establishing "Bike Boulevards” with slow vehicular speeds and limited volumes across all five boroughs. Putting bike lanes on bridges, however, is more difficult. Some bridges are controlled by the city, while others by the state-owned Metropolitan Transportation Authority. As a heavily trafficked hub and tourist attraction that accommodated more than 116,000 vehicles, 30,000 pedestrians and 3,000 cyclists each day before the pandemic, closing off the city-controlled Brooklyn Bridge for construction was a challenge.

The new path cordons off the previous car lane with additional fencing and new barrier segments. The promenade that bikes and pedestrians previously shared now can handle more people without bikes sharing the same space. 

“Some of the conversations we see in other cities are focused on [adding] additional lanes or parts to the bridge, which is much more expensive than working with existing infrastructure,” Restrepo said. “This new path is not just an incredible accomplishment in reallocating road space, but also a template for what could be done across other bridges in the city and in the US.”

Some other cities are similarly using the renewed interest in biking to boost their existing networks. Chicago officials, for example, announced in September the city plans to spend $17 million to add 100 miles of new bike lanes by the end of 2022, bringing the total mileage of bike lanes in the city to nearly 400. Seattle built 45 miles of bike lanes from 2016 through 2020 as part of a master plan to create a 100-mile network across the city. 

In Washington, D.C., the September opening of the $480 million Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge across the Anacostia River also represented a leap forward for bike connectivity. The new bridge, the District’s largest public infrastructure project to date, replaces an outdated bridge with a larger structure that includes a multiuse path for pedestrians and bikers.

The planning process to replace the original Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge, which the district declared functionally obsolete, began over a decade ago. Bike advocates quickly embraced the project as an opportunity to create a safe crossing between two largely disconnected neighborhoods, said Colin Browne, director of communications for the Washington Area Bicyclist Association. Now, he says, the bridge “closes a big gap” in the National Capital Trail Network, a plan for a 1,400-mile network of off-street trails in D.C., Maryland and Virginia adopted last year by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ Transportation Planning Board.

Browne said the project also represents a step forward in management in a region where projects typically require working across city, county, state and federal governments. 

“Usually as a bike-ped organization, you’re talking to planners who are a small part of the decision-making apparatus,” he said. “In this project, they had it figured out from the beginning. We’re seeing that the transportation agency has incorporated the climate and safety goals related to bicycle and pedestrian planning more broadly.”

Advocates said the bipartisan infrastructure law offers another funding boost. The $1 trillion infrastructure law increases funding for the Transportation Department's program funding non-driving infrastructure by 60% over five years for a total of $7.2 billion in that time. Under another provision in the bill, states that have higher road fatality rates would have to invest more in safer alternatives. Even a $12.5 billion bridge repair program has a requirement that projects applying for federal funding consider nonvehicle use of bridges, except when cost-prohibitive.

More infrastructure can, in turn, lead to more biking: A study published in April in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that examined European cities found that cycling increased up to 48% more in cities, on average, where new bike infrastructure was added compared with cities without new lanes. 

As Transportation Alternatives’ Restrepo eyes the future, he says New York City has plenty of potential for more bike infrastructure. De Blasio has said he’ll add bike lanes to the 1.4-mile Queensboro bridge. Newly-elected New York City Mayor Eric Adams is an avid cyclist and pledged to build 300 new miles of protected bike lanes.  

“For us, every single bridge should be accessible by bike and foot and part of a wider network,” Restrepo said. “We want to see our city moving towards a more sustainable future that really highlights bicycling.”

Rolling along the busy streets of New York City, an electrically driven fleet of foldable cargo carts is quietly laying the groundwork for a California startup's vision of the future of grocery delivery.

Propelled by battery-powered bicycles expressly designed to tow heavy loads, the compact containers designed and owned by Los Angeles-based URB-E can each haul 800 pounds of goods for a fraction of the cost of using a conventional van, said Charles Jolley, an investor in the firm who became its CEO in March. Twenty of the blue carts, which are designed to be maneuvered through a typical grocery store, can fit into a single parking space when not in use, according to the company.

"The idea is you load your bags straight into this cart, and when it's time for them to be delivered, a bike comes up and they go off and do the deliveries," said Jolley, adding that to minimize idle time, riders leave an empty delivery cart behind when they pick one up. URB-E currently has about 1,800 containers circulating in New York.

A focus on electric technology

URB-E's concept is built on the company's theory that using small electric vehicles instead of trucks propelled by gasoline or diesel engines to bring grocery orders from stores to customers is the key to boosting margins on delivery orders for retailers. The firm's bikes, which are equipped with 750-watt mid-drive motors and can travel up to about 12 mph, can each transport up to four times their own weight in cargo, Jolley said.

"Last mile has to be electric, and it probably can't be [done with] vans … there's not enough lithium in the world to replace all the gas vans with electric ones, so we have to have something that's much more efficient," said Jolley, referring to the naturally occurring material at the core of rechargeable batteries used for electric vehicles.

Delivery fees have been an impediment to many consumers adopting the service, with many opting for curbside pickup instead. Jolley said his goal is to bring down the cost of a delivery from between $5 and $10 to as little as $2 or $3. "At that point, you're talking about grocery delivery that is almost free to the customer," he said.

Jolley emphasized that while URB-E is dedicated to using electrically powered vehicles to move its carts, it is not tied to bicycles. "The electric bike is what we think is right for New York," he said. "But the reason we define [the business] that broadly, and the systems mix and match, is so we could switch the bike for something else" in areas where weather, terrain or other factors make bikes impractical.

The company is also open to using autonomous vehicles that are electrically powered, he said.

Renting by the hour

Rather than sell its bikes and carts to retailers, URB-E rents the equipment on an as-needed basis for a fee of about $5 per hour in addition to charging a reservation fee that guarantees their availability to users. "We're really motivated to make sure these are extremely reliable because we pay the price, as much as the customer does, if we're having to do rescues or repair things," Jolley said.

URB-E is also considering allowing people to rent the company's equipment on their own and use it to make deliveries as independent contractors.

The carts were designed by Sven Etzelsberger, a former designer for Porsche as well as Fisker, an electric vehicle maker. Etzelsberger co-founded URB-E and now serves as the company's chief technology officer.

A former engineer for Apple, which is renowned for its sharp focus on controlling the customer experience for its products, Jolley said he places particular importance on providing a turnkey service rather than selling the equipment to URB-E's customers. "If you're going to do a new category, you need to really be able to control all the pieces together so that you can really build the right thing," he said.

In addition to working for Apple, Jolley ran Facebook's Android app as head of platform for that company. He also founded and sold two tech firms to the social media service.

Jolley declined to say which grocers URB-E is working with, but indicated the company's current customers are retailers that already have delivery operations and want an alternative to vans to transport orders to customers.

"They contract directly with us to get access to our fleet. And what that usually means is that they're able to take cars, bikes and a bunch of other equipment off their balance sheets and free up that cash because now they're just paying for this as a subscription. It otherwise doesn't change anything else," he said

URB-E currently operates a yard to store its carts and bikes in mid-Manhattan, and plans to open other depots elsewhere in Manhattan as well as in Brooklyn, New York.

In addition to its operations in New York, URB-E has for several years been testing its equipment in Pasadena, CA, Jolley said. The company is now looking elsewhere in the Los Angeles area to expand, and hopes to begin making its services available in Santa Monica later this year. URB-E is also considering entering the downtown Los Angeles delivery market. 

"Our goal is to one day have an URB-E delivery network in every neighborhood in the world, excluding really rural areas that may not need us as much," Jolley said.

URB-E announced in March that it had closed a $5 million Series A funding round with UBS Group as part of the company's effort to prove its business model.

"The real purpose of this funding round was to establish some base of operations, understand our economics and make sure that we could really scale efficiently," said Jolley, adding that the company will be looking to raise additional funds to fuel its expansion.

URB-E is not the only company employing electric bicycles to maximize efficiency in delivering groceries to consumers. Fridge No More, a Brooklyn-based startup that offers 15-minute grocery delivery in the Williamsburg and Park Slope neighborhoods using a network of "cloud stores," launched in October using e-bikes. In March, the startup announced that it had raised $15.4 million in a Series A funding round.

Food retailers are also experimenting with other kinds of battery-powered delivery vehicles. In March, Albertsons announced that it is piloting remote-controlled electric carts from Tortoise at a pair of Safeway stores in California, while Kroger said in November that it would test autonomous electric vehicles in partnership with self-driving car company Cruise.