Transportation for America, Author at Transportation For America

About Transportation for America

For general inquiries about the campaign, email info [at] t4america [dot] org.

State of the Art Transportation Workshops: Addressing local challenges with community-driven solutions

As part of the State of the Art Workshop, Bozeman’s participants ride the local Streamline bus to experience first-hand the challenges riders face. (Image: staff photo)

The participants from the 2018 State of the Art Workshop—Mariposa County, CA; Buffalo, NY; and Bozeman, MT—will share how arts organizations can work with transportation agencies to address unique transportation challenges and the impact that’s having in their communities.

With generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts, T4America partnered with Americans for the Arts to help three communities build capacity among local arts and transportation agencies to better collaborate with each other. Through State of the Art Transportation Workshops, each community worked to integrate artistic and cultural practices into transportation projects. On Wednesday, March 6, we’ll feature workshop participants from Mariposa County, CA; Buffalo, NY; and Bozeman, MT in a webinar to share their stories.

Be sure to tune in to learn about the diverse role that art and culture can play in solving local transportation projects, from better engaging residents in planning a multi-use path in Mariposa County to helping the City of Buffalo better engage with artists and residents through the Buffalo Arts Council. Register for the webinar to hear more.

Join us on the webinar at 2:00 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, March 6 to hear from these three communities, and how the State of the Art Workshop can play a role in your own community.

Walking through questions about our new Playbook for Shared Micromobility

With the help of representatives from two cities, T4America staff a few weeks ago walked through our new Playbook for effectively managing shared micromobility services like dockless bikes, electric scooters, and other new technologies.

Flickr photo by Daniel Lobo. https://www.flickr.com/photos/daquellamanera/38503203635/

Almost overnight, shared scooters and bikes have rapidly proliferated in cities across the country. T4America’s new Playbook for Shared Micromobility is helping cities find their footing. We walked through the new guide a few weeks ago in an online presentation. (Watch the full presentation here)

Our sincere thanks especially to Francie Stefan (Santa Monica) and Josh Johnson (Minneapolis) for their time and especially for openly sharing about their experiences and lessons learned so far. Here’s a collection of some of the questions we weren’t able to answer during the presentation, compiled from T4America staff with input from our guests. Any mistakes or errors are T4America’s alone.

GEOFENCING

Is constituent/resident input considered when forming geofencing?

Cities should engage constituents including residents, employees, businesses and visitors when considering the boundaries for operations as well as any specific areas where operations would need to be controlled in a different way, including restrictions on operations, specific parking areas, or speed differentials. Cities and operators together will need to work together to ensure an appropriate level of engagement, communication, and education around these areas.

In Minneapolis, public input was actually the primary consideration for 2018’s geofencing (of two areas), based on feedback received via our 311 system. Going forward in 2019, Minneapolis’ intention is to tie the monitoring interface with daily mapping of 311 complaints and try to more quickly react or anticipate where it is needed.

We have a policy in our city that does not allow any e-bikes or pedal assist bikes on any of our greenways or trails. How can geofencing help us avoid constant issues with e-bike use on the greenways?

At least thus far, geofencing technology for many devices has not always been precise enough for detailed enforcement. Improved equipment could address much of the issue but is not widespread. But geofencing can help alert riders to operating restrictions in specific areas. Larger areas with buffer zones around them like a trail system may be large enough to enable geofenced speed reduction, parking prohibition, or other tools. Robust communications by the city and in-app by operators can help deter riding or usage in restricted areas.

How well did the geofencing technology work? In Santa Monica, specifically in restricting devices from working in specific areas (Santa Monica city vs Santa Monica College).

The geofencing is working well in larger areas like the Marvin Braude Beach Bike Path. That zone is wide enough to enable effective location-based speed reduction down to 5 mph for all scooters. The city works regularly with the operators to ensure that all versions of the devices are set up to reduce speeds, and to ensure that parking limitations are in place.

FEE STRUCTURE

Good protected infrastructure is very important for shared micromobility users, but it’s also a vital element of more sustainable and equitable cities, whoever ultimately owns the vehicles. What is the fair share for micromobility providers to pay, given that more active transportation is already an element of most T4A cities’ transportation goals?

Unfortunately there is not a clear cut answer at this point, however Minneapolis is exploring a research project to determine the fair share across all shared modes. In the meantime, we are thinking about the infrastructure portion of fees related to costs of improving the existing system to more comfortably accommodate new modes through added bike lane protection (delineators), markings/signage, and additional striping for parking zones.

Santa Monica adopted an interim fee that was calculated based on the PROW square footage used by devices. The study looked at the average footprint of a device in the PROW when stationary (bike/scooter/vertical/horizontal), and then applied the per-square foot fee used for outdoor dining in the PROW. The staff report for fee adoption can be found here.

Do you see cities moving from a fee structure to a subsidy structure for these services? Shifting to a higher penalty for SOVs and rewards rather than fees on lower-emission modes.

Given the ongoing debate in cities across the country and how to appropriately tax and levy fees on everything from TNCs to micromobility operators to freight and urban delivery to private vehicle use, it’s still unclear how to best assess the impacts of various transportation users and service providers on our shared infrastructure. Ultimately, T4A would like to see fair user fees supported across all modes that truly represent the positive, and negative, impacts of each user and use case.

What is a reasonable cost that cities can expect to spend as a result of allowing dockless vehicles/shared micromobility to operate in their cities? (Including everything that goes into it: reviewing permitting applications, dealing w/ picking up rogue vehicles if the operator does not, etc.)

These new services are in their infancy and the exact costs that are being borne by cities to administer and manage them are not yet clear. In developing an overall fee structure, cities will need to think holistically to calculate the full and actual costs—including everything from staff time to software management platforms to daily operational needs to outreach and engagement. While cities can take some cues from each other, these costs also vary from city to city given the nature of their regulations, labor costs and other local factors. Conducting a cost analysis study can help determine the true costs.

FLEET SIZE

Should there only be a single operator per community or can there be competition in this arena? Also should a cap be set for the industry or individual operator?

It’s still unclear what an appropriate number of permits or overall fleet size should be as it relates to population, density or other community factors that will appropriately serve individual communities and the city as a whole—while still creating an attractive and profitable market for operators. Between permit caps and fleet size caps, cities should probably focus more on managing the overall fleet size effectively to create a program the whole community can benefit from. Cities should use dynamic, performance based caps that establish clear, utilization-based formulas for the expansion of operator fleets.

Minneapolis is also thinking about—in terms of the differences among companies—whether it’s a different product (such as a sit down scooter) or potential differences in operating structure (vendor hiring practices, fleet activities, etc.) and also how closely vendors align with city goals for transportation and mobility. With rapid growth and continued consolidation in the scooter industry, there is also the idea of maintaining continuity of service, should a vendor be acquired or leave the market.

How did the City of Santa Monica decide on their initial fleet size for providers?
In Minneapolis, any hints on the actual ratios of people/scooter you’re examining? Any preliminary findings you can share on those numbers? Formulas?

Santa Monica interviewed eleven operators before crafting the the scope of the pilot program and Administrative Rules. One of the questions asked was regarding the optimal number of devices with which to start operations of a fleet that would serve the whole city. Answers all hovered around 500 devices, and there was interest in flexibility. That informed the starting point for the pilot program. The city has owned a 500-bike bikeshare fleet since 2015, and it has worked well for the city’s size and layout.

In thinking about ratios of people per scooter, Minneapolis has been discussing and comparing with a variety of other cities, and comparing that to last year’s results based on the population that was generally served by the distribution of scooters. Minneapolis is also talking to some of the vendors who’ve expressed interest in Minneapolis to see how they determine ideal fleet size. Those calculations are still being firmed up but Minneapolis is hoping to use 2019 as the starting point to establish the idea and then evaluate performance from there.

INFRASTRUCTURE

I would love to hear more about the Minneapolis idea of dedicated fees to advance protected bike infrastructure! Did you set up designated parking areas for scooters anywhere? Does the $1/day PROW fee fund something related to streets (or even active transportation infrastructure?)?

Minneapolis has set aside the fees from the 2018 pilot and is thinking about establishing some testing of this idea in 2019 in places with low-hanging fruit such as adding delineators on bikeways (with no current protection) which connect equity focus areas to core parts of the city. Minneapolis is also looking at testing lane markings and dedicated parking, particularly in dense areas with narrow sidewalks. Equally important to this effort will be communication of how and why this is being done.

EQUITY

Were these set up with any particular group in mind? Are these focused on ensuring the best interest of the broad public and of special-needs group?

The was developed as a result of a collaboration between Transportation for America and the participant cities in T4America’s Smart Cities Collaborative as well as industry stakeholders including Lime. T4A conducted additional research and held conversations with cities across the country developing regulations and managing pilot programs. The Playbook also builds on the effort by the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) and their member cities to develop their Guidelines for the Regulation and Management of Shared Active Transportation.

DATA

How do you think about requiring operators to provide public feeds in GBFS format so real-time info is visible to the public and trip-planning apps? These feeds were missing in some early pilot programs, but cities like DC require them from new mobility operators, which are already commonplace for existing systems like Citi Bike, Breeze bikeshare and Nice Ride MN.

This is perhaps a notable difference between a publicly owned and operated system (often through contract) and a service that’s privately owned and operated. Systems owned and managed by public entities (such as those listed in the question above) have mostly been making their data publicly accessible. But, while some cities are requiring data be provided by (private) dockless operators, not many have required it to also be publicly available. So far, private operators have typically been comfortable sharing data with regulators for enforcement and operations, but have been opposed to being required to share their data publicly to the benefit of other private sector companies.

PERFORMANCE METRICS

Are there recommendations for the most effective performance metrics?

Great question! We include a list of potential metrics that cities can use to measure performance in the playbook. But, given that we’re still very early in the development of these services, it’s not clear yet which metrics may be best. And, since each city will likely have different goals and outcomes that are most important to them, it will be important for each city to determine which metrics best track the outcomes or impacts they’re most interested in.

Relatedly, that type of ethos governed our overall approach to the playbook. T4America wanted to provide a framework that any city could use to advance their specific goals, while also recognizing that cities will bring vastly different big-picture goals to the table. Some cities might be more committed to shifting more trips to cleaner modes, for example. The important thing is for cities to understand how measuring performance is (and should be!) connected to accomplishing specific goals, and then to find the metrics that best get them where they want to go.

Question for Minneapolis: How would your population density-based distribution requirement work?

This idea is still being explored in Minneapolis, but essentially it would be establishing a goal ratio of people per scooter, based on population and including commuters as well as students (where applicable) to try to include the groups using scooters regularly. That would then be used to establish some distribution minimums or maximums, to ensure broader distribution and availability. Minneapolis essentially allowed the market to determine distribution in 2018, and we are thinking about how we can make it more equitable and position it as an option for all in 2019 and beyond.

GENERAL

For cities that have conducted RFA/review processes for selecting operator companies, what criteria is used (metrics, performance measures, etc.) have been used to rank, evaluate, and determine which company is most competitive and also the best fit for both the city and the overall community?

Last summer, the San Francisco San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) created its Powered Scooter Share Permit and Pilot Program. Their application process invited proposals that prioritized the city’s concerns around safety, equity and accountability and they rated everything from public safety and user education to equitable access to collaborating with the city. You can find the details, applications and their public review on their website.

The RFA process for Santa Monica is documented on the pilot project Application & Selection Process website.

The enabling ordinance for the pilot project specified some of the selection process, including “Each qualified applicant shall be evaluated based upon objective criteria including: experience; proposed operations plan; financial wherewithal and stability; adequacy of insurance; ability to begin operations in a timely manner; public education strategies; relevant record of the applicant’s or officers’, owners’ or principals’ violations of Federal, State or local law, or rules and regulations; and any other objective criteria established by Administrative Regulation.”

Minneapolis : How is your ridership in winter versus summer?

Minneapolis didn’t get much snow or ice in November prior to the end of the pilot last year, however temperatures did drop in the last 3-4 weeks of the pilot, which caused a steady decline from roughly six trips per scooter per day to about three trips per scooter per day by the last week. At the peak in early summer, we were seeing about seven trips per scooter per day.

Is Santa Monica’s eScooter industry review publicly available? If so, could you share it?

All available program documents are posted here.

What is a typical day-in-the-life of your Code Enforcement Officer?

Code enforcement tasks are both in the field investigating issues and documenting conditions, as well as in the office responding to phone calls, e-mails, and submitted complaints. Time is split roughly 50/50 between field and office, inclusive of work entering reports and evidence into a document management system in the event that a complaint ends up in a hearing. Code staff investigate complaints in the field, and if confirmed will follow up with additional investigations which may lead to citations from violated municipal codes. Once a complaint is confirmed, code staff investigate the problem daily or even weekly until the problem is resolved.

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Thanks again to our guests for their time. View the full Playbook at playbook.t4america.org

T4America’s new “playbook” provides an evolving guide for how cities can manage shared micromobility services

Produced in collaboration with 23 cities, Transportation for America today released a new “Playbook” to help cities think about how to best manage shared micromobility services like dockless bikes, electric scooters, and other new technologies that are rapidly being deployed in cities across the country.

View the complete Playbook at http://playbook.t4america.org

Over just the past few years, shared micromobility services (scooters, bikes and others) have exploded in cities across the country, transforming the mobility landscape and challenging the ability of cities to manage them. Since the initial introduction of dockless bikesharing systems in Seattle in the summer of 2017, dozens of companies have rapidly launched their services in hundreds of cities, served thousands of users and completed millions of rides—in just a little over a year.

“The rapid emergence of these new micromobility services has created new clean and convenient options for people to get around, and they certainly offer a wealth of potential benefits. But there’s still so much to learn,” said Russ Brooks, T4America’s Director of Smart Cities.

“They can help advance city goals related to equity, access to jobs and services, climate, and more. But in order to achieve these goals, cities have a major role to play in thoughtfully managing them to ensure that the benefits accrue equitably to everyone. This Playbook is intended to be an extension of T4America’s Smart Cities Collaborative and serve as the start of an ongoing conversation where cities can share their experiences and identify best practices as the results of the first pilot programs across the country come in.”

No cities were even considering the prospect of shared electric scooters two years ago, and now in 2019, hundreds of them are. This incredibly rapid pace of change is unlikely to slow anytime soon, and it highlights the need to create flexible regulatory frameworks that will help cities integrate new technologies and contribute toward their preferred long-term outcomes.

The Shared Micromobility Playbook is intended to help cities better understand the variety of policy levers at their disposal and explores the core components of a comprehensive shared micromobility policy for local governments as they consider how best to manage these services.

“Santa Monica has been at ground zero for the micromobility revolution, having to learn—in real time—what works and what doesn’t as scooters appeared in our city virtually overnight,” said Francie Stefan, Acting Chief Mobility Officer and Assistant Director of Planning & Community Development for the City of Santa Monica.

“But we didn’t have to find our way alone. By being part of the T4America Smart Cities Collaborative, we were able to quickly tap into the experiences of over 20 other cities, including ones who had just gone through the first wave of dockless bikeshare regulation. With e-scooters now operating for a year in Santa Monica, we were happy to share our experiences as T4America produced the Playbook which crystallizes in a systematic way what the key policy questions are, what we can control, and the pros and cons of various approaches to regulating these new services.”

The Playbook was started during a September convening in Pittsburgh, PA with the 23 cities participating in T4America’s yearlong Smart Cities Collaborative. The Playbook was written as a result of that collaboration, additional conversations with cities across the country working on regulations, industry stakeholders including Lime, and research conducted by T4America.

The convening of the Smart Cities Collaborative in Pittsburgh, PA where the Playbook was started with feedback from staff representing 23 cities.

“Whether docked or dockless bikes, electric bikes or scooters, the pace of change with these new mobility offerings has been astonishing. In Minneapolis, we’re not just trying to keep up, we’re working to shape these services to provide safe, reliable, and sustainable mobility options for all people,” said Josh Johnson, Advanced Mobility Manager for the Minneapolis Department of Public Works. “Thankfully, we don’t have to try to figure this out on our own. Being part of producing the Playbook with T4America and other cities in the same boat has required us to think through these issues in a deliberate way, while remaining proactive and keeping our ideal vision of mobility in Minneapolis in the front of our minds.”

The Playbook is divided into eight policy sections:

Each section identifies key policy areas to reflect on, highlights the various options in each policy area, reviews the pros and cons of each level of action, and provides case studies of cities that have enacted certain policies. Sections also include suggested national standards across cities, areas for cities to make local choices, and key considerations when deliberating policy options along with recommendations.

T4America will continue to refine and expand the Playbook as we learn more about the ongoing results of the efforts to manage these services and ultimately the impact that shared micromobility is having in our communities.

View the Playbook at playbook.t4america.org.

Reminder: Join us on Monday, January 28th at 3:00 p.m. EST for an online session explaining the Playbook, how to use it, and how members of the Collaborative helped shape the content.

Small groups, big questions: 12 roundtable conversations at Capital Ideas 2018

Capital Ideas 2018 will be full of inspiration and best practices. But even with a speaker lineup full of national experts, we know that we won’t possibly have all the answers to every community’s challenges.

That’s where our roundtable conversations come in. On the first afternoon of the conference, we’ll have two small-group sessions to go deep on a few select topics. These focused conversations will allow participants to dig in on questions they want new perspective on, and ask honest questions of people who have done it.

Here’s a look at the 12 ideas we’ll examine during this part of the conference:

Roundtable 1: Creating an Objective Scoring Process to Select Projects
Virginia is using an objective framework to evaluate transportation projects, prioritize investments, and measure results. This transparency and accountability can help build between among taxpayers and decision-makers, and allows states to direct limited funds to the projects with the biggest return on investment. Hear how Virginia is doing it and ask questions about your own efforts. With Nick Donohue, Deputy Secretary of Transportation, Commonwealth of Virginia, and Beth Osborne, Director, Transportation for America.

Roundtable 2: Pursuing Funding Through US DOT’s BUILD Program
The East Coast Greenway Alliance has worked with seven states to submit eleven projects totaling over $135 million for BUILD 2018 grants from USDOT. Get ideas for strategy, tactics, and lessons learned for future BUILD applications. With Dennis Markatos-Soriano, Director, and Niles Barnes, Deputy Director, East Coast Greenway Alliance.

Roundtable 3: How to Add New Mobility Services to Transportation Systems
How are cities incorporating new mobility services into their transportation systems, in ways that support the city’s transportation priorities? Learn how cities can use funding, regulation, and collaboration to manage new mobility services. With Andrew Glass Hastings, Senior Mobility Strategist, Remix, and Russ Brooks, Smart Cities Director, Transportation for America.

Roundtable 4: Trails Transform America
Helping states fund a 21st-century, balanced transportation system that includes trail networks as essential community assets connecting people to vital opportunities. What’s the best way to measure these projects’ impact on the communities they serve? Learn best practices from around the country. With Ken Bryan, Florida State Director, and Andrew N. Dupuy, Manager of Policy Outreach, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy; and John Robert Smith, Chairman, Transportation for America.

Roundtable 5: Harnessing Technology Disruption in Mobility Systems
Georgia DOT and The Ray partnered to build a solar-powered stretch of Interstate 85. Learn how they connected capabilities, pollution remediation, life safety, and more. With Faye DiMassimo, FAICP, Deloitte; Allie Kelly, Executive Director, The Ray; and Andrew Heath, State Traffic Engineer, Georgia Department of Transportation.

Roundtable 6: Public-Private Partnerships in Transit
New mobility services can be deployed in ways that extend transit service to more people. Learn about how new technologies can be combined with innovative performance-based contracting models to deliver higher quality and more cost-effective service to riders. With Zack Wasserman, Head of Global Business Development, VIA, and Scott Goldstein, Policy Director, Transportation for America.

Roundtable 7: Shifting to a Roadway User Charge
Pricing road usage has traditionally been done via tolling of a specific road or bridge. But new ideas around pricing are considering ways it can serve as a broader, foundational revenue sources for roads, similar to the gas tax. Washington State has had a Road Usage Charge Assessment underway for several years and launched a year-long pilot this year. In the pilot, 2000 vehicles from across the state are testing different methods of recording and reporting road usage. Learn new ways your state could price based on usage. With Reema Griffith, Executive Director, Washington State Transportation Commission, and Chris Rall, Program Manager, Transportation for America.

Roundtable 8: Creative Placemaking
Examples from around the country about leveraging the power of the arts, culture and creativity to support growth and transformation while also building character and quality of place. With Marian Liou, Founder and Executive Director, We Love BuHi (Atlanta, GA); Rochelle Carpenter, Senior Policy Advisor, Greater Nashville Regional Council; and Ben Stone, Transportation for America.

Roundtable 9: Transportation and Climate: How States Can Tackle Emissions
The Mid-Atlantic and Northeast states are exploring a framework for emissions reductions in transportation. How can this work be accelerated, how can a market-based program advance transportation equity, and what lessons can be learned from existing cap-and-invest programs such as California’s. This session will be of special interest to attendees from the “TCI” participant states of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. With Chris Dempsey, Director, Transportation for Massachusetts, and Alex Beckmann, Program Associate, Transportation for America.

Roundtable 10: Equity in Transportation – Opportunity Deferred
What is equity in transportation? How to consider the transportation needs of marginalized populations and recognize the impact of past investments on equity. Best practices in ensuring that transportation policies from regional transit governance to the creation of new sources of revenue consider equity. With Nathaniel Smith, Founder and Chief Equity Officer, Partnership for Southern Equity, and Calvin Gladney, President and CEO, Smart Growth America.

Roundtable 11: Making the Case for Transit
Dive into the data that reveal how transit supports businesses, and hear examples of companies that are making transit-based decisions to benefit their bottom line. What are the messages that work? With Audrey Wennink, Director, Metropolitan Planning Council, and Steve Davis, Communications Director, Smart Growth America.

Roundtable 12: Knocking Down Barriers to Deploying Autonomous Vehicles
How do you ensure driverless vehicles are safe? How do we deploy autonomous vehicles in a mixed-fleet environment? And how do we include autonomous vehicles in long range plans? Join us to discuss some of the biggest questions facing communities interested in autonomous vehicles. With Kelley Coyner, Senior Fellow, George Mason University; founder and CEO, Mobility e3, and Jason Levine, Executive Director, Center for Auto Safety.

In-depth conversations with colleagues from across the country are one of the best reasons to join Capital Ideas. Register today and we’ll see you in December.

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Thank you to our sponsors

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Host Committee

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Promotional partners

Have questions about registration, sponsorship, or our program? Email capitalideas@t4america.org to talk with our team.

Florida is out in front on driverless vehicles

The State of Florida knows that the way they’ve done transportation projects for the last 50 years won’t be the way to do them for the 50 years ahead. That’s why the Florida Department of Transportation, in partnership with the City of Gainesville, state legislators, and mobility company Transdev, are piloting one of the first autonomous vehicle shuttle projects in the country.

“It can’t just be a research project. It needs to move people,” says Dan Hoffman, Assistant City Manager for the City of Gainesville, which is the location of the pilot. “We want to understand how this technology could support an entire transportation network.”

Gainesville’s shuttle is currently in the testing phase. Once in operation, its route will connect the University of Florida’s campus and downtown Gainesville. It would be among the first automated vehicles in the nation to provide fixed-route transit services in mixed traffic on public roads.

“Florida is putting their money where their mouth is,” says Hoffman. “We want economic development. We want people to be safer on our roads. We are willing to start thinking in new ways about how to accomplish that.”

Dramatic advances in transportation technology are part of what’s powering Gainesville’s shuttle. But the project wouldn’t have been possible without making changes and innovations to state transportation policy. In 2016, the Florida Legislature passed the nation’s first legislation to legalize fully autonomous vehicles on public roads without a driver behind the wheel. Several other cities in Florida have started pilot projects with driverless vehicles since then, and other states have since moved to follow Florida’s lead.

To discuss how Gainesville and the State of Florida are doing this work, and what other states can learn from it, Dan Hoffman will one of our featured speakers at Capital Ideas 2018, taking place on December 5 and 6 in Atlanta, GA. Register for the conference today to hear more details about Gainesville’s driverless vehicle project and ask questions about your own projects.

Why come all the way to Atlanta if you can read about the project online?

“You always pick up nuances about the work at presentations and events,” Hoffman says. “People feel a little more comfortable being honest in person and that’s really the biggest benefit of events like Capital Ideas. You get to connect with the people who do your type of work in other places and have conversations that are a little more wonky or specific than with anyone else. To me, that’s the biggest benefit.”

Get your ticket to Capital Ideas 2018 today to hear from Dan and to discuss your own community’s work on autonomous vehicles and the future of new mobility. We hope to see you in Atlanta in December.

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Thank you to our sponsors

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Host Committee

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Promotional partners

Have questions about registration, sponsorship, or our program? Email capitalideas@t4america.org to talk with our team.

The newest intercity rail system in the country

Since it opened earlier this year, the Florida Brightline that connects Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach has been the only privately owned, operated and maintained passenger rail system in the United States.

Creating the system took collaboration with the Federal Railroad Administration, the State of Florida, and regional economic partnerships, not to mention billions of dollars in private capital.

Now, they’re planning to do it again in California. Earlier this week Brightline announced plans for a new system connecting Southern California to Las Vegas. It will be only the second privately funded passenger rail system in the United States.

Join us at Capital Ideas 2018 to learn how they plan to do it, and about the role states can play in making projects like this happen.

Rusty Roberts, Vice President of Government Affairs for Brightline, will be one of the featured speakers at Capital Ideas.

Roberts will share lessons from the Brightline’s work in Florida, ways they are adapting in California, and tips any state leader should know about making innovative projects like this possible.

This session will be just one of the many great conversations in store for Capital Ideas 2018, all about the role states can plan in new mobility frontiers.

We hope you’ll join us in Atlanta in December.

Lessons learned from T4America’s Cultural Corridor Consortium

Yesterday, representatives from Dothan (AL), Indianapolis, and Los Angeles shared how local leaders, artists, city officials, and arts administrators in their communities are using the arts and creative practices to address pressing transportation challenges. Catch up with a recording of the full webinar here.

A rendering of a mural that celebrates the culture, identity, and strength of Hyde Park’s residents amidst rapid development and construction in the Hyde Park neighborhood. Photo courtesy of LA Commons.

Arts and culture can extend far beyond the performance or physical structures we typically recognize as art. These three cities in Alabama, California, and Indiana are engaging with community members, building local capacity for civic engagement, and helping build bridges of collaboration by using arts and culture in transportation projects.

On a webinar yesterday we heard from leaders in these communities who are pioneering arts & culture projects through what we call the Cultural Corridor Consortium, generously funded by The Kresge Foundation. It’s been over a year since T4America kicked off this round of projects, and it’s incredible to hear about the progress that’s been made since.

Catch up with yesterday’s webinar below and learn about how arts and culture are contributing to producing transportation projects that better serve communities in diverse contexts across the U.S.

Recap of Q & A:

Question: Did you consider moving the grocery store across I-84 so that people wouldn’t have to go outside of their neighborhood and across the highway?

Bob Wilkerson: I agree that it would be a good thing to have a grocery store within the fabric of the neighborhood. However, the grocery store owner has existed in its present location for many years and also serves an equally sizeable neighborhood on the southern extent of Highway 84 East. To your point, there were several small grocery markets located in the subject area during the past that provided an easily walkable distance for much of the neighborhood. Our hope is that through the City’s revitalization and renewal initiatives, such as the former Howell School being transformed into a senior housing community, we can entice and incentivize entrepreneurs to bring goods and services closer to our historic core neighborhoods.

Question: What is the status of FHA funding for aesthetic amenities?

Julia Muney Moore: I can say that for Indianapolis, we were very sensitive to the restrictions of the FAST Act and structured our whole project around them. We have been very careful to “brand” the projects not as IndyGo’s (because the Red Line Rapid Transit construction is largely federally funded and falls under the restrictions), but as Transit Drives Indy and the Arts Council’s project, so as not to make it seem that these projects were funded by the same source and in the same project as the Red Line itself. We also deliberately made the projects temporary for the same reason. We want to do some permanent work, but we have to wait until the Red Line is built out and running, and the federally funded project is closed out, before we start doing anything.

Question: [For LA:] How were you able to get people to engage with the project, given the conflict between the community and the planning process for the rail line?

Zipporah Yamamoto: For this project, we decided to take one big challenge and go deep. There was a mixed reception for the new rail line in this specific community, with gentrification, a rapid rate of change, and a concern about the potential loss of an established sense of place being a key concern among many residents. Metro has special programs that offer assistance to local businesses through technical training and an extensive marketing program to encourage people to frequent local businesses, restaurants and events during construction – all free to participants – and the agency has distributed millions of dollars in grants to mom and pop businesses that have been impacted by construction. There are also local hire and job training programs associated with the project that have brought many opportunities to the area. However, there are many long time residents that do not own a business and are not looking for work. Our project with Transportation for America added another tool to the toolbox of opportunities for engagement, using arts and culture to directly address the core issues around neighborhood change that were vocalized by residents, by capturing stories from the existing community and using those stories as source material to design a mural with a strong visual presence that will be visible from the platform.

The Heart of Hyde Park mural project was led by LA Commons, a community based arts organization with deep roots in the area, with Metro as a collaborator. A strong desire to be heard and acknowledged had been expressed, and we built this into the framework of the project. A group of involved community members acted as an advisory committee and provided input throughout the project, including developing the format and selecting the catering for a community kickoff event. The kickoff involved a story summit, where folks were invited to share their stories about Hyde Park with high school students, who took notes and brought the stories back to a collaborative studio to use as source material for mural imagery development. Approximately 75 community members attended the story summit and many expressed their appreciation for the opportunity to add their personal recollections as part of the development of a new community landmark.

Assaata Umoja, an active and vocal community member, was hired to serve as the youth mentor for the project. She brought in special speakers and personally shared a wealth of knowledge about the history of the community with the students who participated in the project. Moses Ball was hired as the lead artist and mentored Dezmond Crockett, a more emerging artist from the immediate area. The mural imagery was developed by Moses, and is informed by the collected stories of community members and drawings by 14 youth artists. Several prominent community members, including Assaata, are featured in the mural, and Assaata’s headshot for this webinar is actually a section of the mural design. The voice of the community has been heavily present throughout the development of the design, and a public community meeting was held at a local library to share the design and solicit feedback. After an extensive design development process we are moving into the painting phase, which will include a community painting day. The resulting mural design is much more than a decorative element, it is a strong, community informed visual statement about place, history and vitality.

For the Heart of Hyde Park project, establishing a community advisory committee and bringing on local residents to spearhead elements of the project helped establish a sense of community ownership that drew participants into the project. Transportation challenges around gentrification and rapid neighborhood change are not unique to Hyde Park, and while these conversations are not easy, they are important. Creative placekeeping led by community arts organizations in collaboration with public agencies can be a powerful tool to facilitate discussion and provide opportunities for communities to lead the development of a new neighborhood asset, in our case a mural, that asserts a community presence and marks place in a significant way.

Learn how three cities are using arts and culture to address their transportation challenges

Hear from local leaders in three communities who are using the arts and creative practices to address pressing transportation challenges. (Updated)

Dothan’s Artist in Residence, Cosby Hayes, captures the stories of residents living along a dangerous high-traffic corridor.

(Updated: 9/20/2018) Catch up with the recording of the webinar here.

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It’s been about a year since T4America kicked off the Cultural Corridor Consortium to equip three cities to use arts and culture to tackle entrenched transportation challenges and come up with more creative solutions. On Monday, September 17, we’ll feature project leaders from each of these three cities—Indianapolis, Los Angeles, and Dothan, AL—who will share stories about their creative placemaking work.

On the hour-long webinar, you’ll have the opportunity to learn about the integral role that art, culture, and artists themselves have had in transforming typical community engagement processes and the design of streets in these communities. From hiring an artist-in-residence to lead community outreach for a highway corridor revitalization project in Dothan, AL to creating artistic interventions along Indianapolis’s new bus rapid transit lines to boost ridership, the 3C participants have found a myriad of ways to use the arts to bolster transportation projects.

Join us on the webinar at 2:00 p.m. EST, on Monday, September 17 to hear from local leaders about their projects’ successes, challenges, and next steps. It may even leave you inspired with ideas for how arts & culture can play a role in solving your own community’s unique transportation-related challenges.

U.S. Senate passes transportation appropriations bill with robust funding for transit, rail programs

Washington, DC—Today, the United States Senate again rejected the Trump administration’s proposal to eliminate or severely cut vital transportation programs that local communities rely on by adopting its FY19 Transportation Housing and Urban Development (THUD) appropriations bill. In perhaps their strongest rebuke of the president’s disdain for transit, the bill language specifically requests that USDOT manage the BUILD program (formerly TIGER) as it did during the Obama administration.

“Today the United States Senate reaffirmed the importance of investing in transportation and in particular public transit. The Senate’s vote signals that funding public transit is and should remain a federal priority, despite the objections of the current administration,” said Kevin F. Thompson, director of Transportation for America. “Millions of Americans are counting on new or improved transit service to provide options for reaching jobs and opportunity, and local governments are counting on federal funds to leverage local taxpayer revenue and bring these projects to fruition.”

President Trump has twice sent recommended budgets to Capitol Hill that have eliminated most or all funding for public transit.

The Senate THUD appropriations bill funds:

The BUILD (Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development) Grants program at $1 billion. The bill language specifically directs USDOT to administer this program as it was in 2016 (under Obama’s DOT) in response to changes the agency has tried to impose which would have added greater financial and administrative burdens on local communities. The BUILD program is one of the most popular programs administered by the federal government, providing grants directly to local communities across the country for all manner of transportation systems from biking and walking infrastructure to port projects to transit systems. Communities can continue to rely on BUILD to help make upgrades to their ports (like in Mobile, Alabama) or shared-use trail systems (like in northwest Arkansas).
The Capital Investment Grants (CIG) Program at $2.5 billion, a $1.6 billion increase over the administration’s FY19 request but $92 million below FY18. This funding will allow projects like the Indianapolis Purple Bus Rapid transit (BRT) line, the Raleigh-Durham light rail line and the Tempe, Arizona Streetcar to move forward. Each of these communities raised tens or hundreds of millions of local dollars based on the promise of federal matching funds. The Senate, through this bill, keeps that promise.

The Senate strongly endorsed continuing Amtrak’s long-distance service, despite objections of the Trump administration, by virtually prohibiting Amtrak from reducing or eliminating rail service on the Southwest Chief line as Amtrak proposed. The Senate also adopted an amendment supported by Transportation for America that expressly prohibits the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) from changing its federal loan policy that would have raised costs for local taxpayers (see FTA’s “Dear Colleague” letter). The letter sowed confusion about FTA’s standards and we’re pleased the Senate rebuked the agency’s actions. The Senate sent a clear message that FTA should continue carrying out the CIG program as Congress intended.

We applaud the Senate for taking a firm stand in support of these programs and the communities that rely on them; we hope the U.S. House of Representatives will do the same.

On May 23, 2018, the House Appropriations Committee approved their THUD bill. Like the Senate bill, the House bill rejects the president’s proposal to eliminate or severely cut vital transportation programs that local communities rely on. We encourage Speaker Ryan to bring the bill expeditiously to the full House of Representatives for a vote.

A vital tool in the transportation-funding toolbox

A bus from UMass Amherst going up scenic Route 116 in the Pioneer Valley. (Image: Mehrashk, Wikimedia Commons)

The current administration is doing what it can to interfere with federal funding for transit, which makes it important that localities have a broad set of transportation funding tools. Today, we share an argument from Timothy Brennan, executive director of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, on the need to legalize regional ballot initiatives in Massachusetts and beyond.

Over the past two weeks, transportation news feeds have been full of stories about how the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is either slowing down the grant process for transit projects, holding up payments on transit projects already approved for federal dollars, or injecting more uncertainty into the funding process by redefining what constitutes local dollars. The message is clear: the current administration believes it is not the role of the federal government to fund transit. They see it as a state and local responsibility, and as such they are on the hunt for ways to require states and local governments to pony up even more resources for projects that receive a share of federal money.

Regardless of how one views the issue (and we believe the federal government should robustly fund transit for a number of reasons), it’s clear that localities must have the broadest set of tools available to finance transportation projects if they hope to secure any federal funding. While many communities are prepared to tackle this challenge at the ballot box, nine states—including the Commonwealth of Massachusetts—prohibit cities and towns from allowing voters to approve local taxes to fund transportation projects. Communities in states that limit the use of regional ballot initiatives may find themselves at a distinct competitive disadvantage as they seek federal funding.

Today, we welcome thoughts from Timothy Brennan, executive director of Massachusetts’ second largest regional planning agency—the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission—on the need to legalize regional ballot initiatives (RBIs) in the Commonwealth.

Unlocking the Potential of RBIs

Timothy Brennan, Executive Director, Pioneer Valley Planning Commission

As the current legislative sessions winds down here in Massachusetts, there is lingering hope that state legislators will enact legislation enabling regional ballot initiatives (RBIs) for cities and towns to raise local transportation funds. State Senator Eric Lesser—who serves as Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Economic Development & Emerging Technologies and Vice Chair of the Joint Committee on Transportation—is sponsoring legislation that would, if approved, allow voters in regions across the Commonwealth to decide at the ballot box whether to approve a placed-based RBI to generate supplemental funds dedicated to advancing a pre-defined list of transportation projects over 10-20 years.

At a recent RBI legislative briefing session convened by Senator Lesser, a panel of knowledgeable RBI proponents outlined the attributes and benefits of RBIs. Those advocates—from Transportation for America, the Metro Atlanta Chamber, Transportation for Massachusetts, and my own, Springfield-based Pioneer Valley Planning Commission—made the case for why RBIs can be a powerful addition to today’s transportation financing toolbox. I’ve long been a committed advocate for RBIs based on the experiences of other cities dating back to 1987 when voters in the San Diego region approved one of the nation’s first RBIs. Since then, San Diego voters have repeatedly renewed the measure, even with California’s mandatory two-thirds vote margin. This has extended the RBI’s useful life for decades, along with the transportation investment funds it has generated, making San Diego one of the most successful RBI regions anywhere in the United States. Today 41 states have various forms of RBI-enabling laws in place.

Five Reasons Massachusetts—and every state—should allow RBIs

Here in Massachusetts, RBI enabling legislation has yet to be enacted by the State Legislature. Unlike 41 other states where cities and towns can vote on a custom-fitted RBI to fund priority transportation improvements, our residents do not have that option. And RBIs are generally quite popular; historically, RBIs have been approved 70 percent of the time in places on both ends of the political spectrum. So what has 30 plus years of RBI experience in a broad array of metropolitan and rural areas taught us? Five compelling reasons to enable RBIs in Massachusetts stand out:

SCALE: RBIs can be adjusted to work for regions of different geographic size and reach. Collectively, regions can generate significant local revenue that are solely dedicated to advancing specific, priority improvement projects that are shared with voters before they’re asked to cast their RBI ballot.
STRUCTURE: All decisions as to whether to approve or reject an RBI are made locally by voters who, in turn, also get to decide on the RBIs local, long-term governance structure.
STRATEGY: RBIs are by definition “placed-based” financing mechanisms, which give voters in a defined region the ability to shape and act on their desired future. By their very nature, voters must approve the regional transportation investments, necessitating local, public engagement.
SUCCESS: With RBI enabling legislation in place, sustained success is possible provided there’s evidence of continuing progress on the implementation of the transportation improvements voters approved. RBIs create a mechanism that enlists ongoing voter engagement and sustains RBI support.
SUNSETTING: Voters must re-visit and re-vote on RBIs every 10 to 20 years, which serves as an ultimate measure of performance and accountability. If real progress is not achieved on the region’s priority transportation improvements during the RBI’s life cycle, the likelihood of this RBI being extended by the voters becomes highly unlikely. As one established RBI district in Colorado proclaims, “promises made need to be promises kept.”

For these reasons, I believe enacting RBI-enabling legislation here in Massachusetts can produce benefits that are comparable to what’s already been experienced in San Diego and dozens of other regions, large and small, across our nation. Massachusetts is one more RBI success story that’s just waiting to happen.

Pioneer Valley Transit Authority (PVTA) buses at Union Station in Springfield, MA . (Image: Newflyer504, Wikimedia Commons)

Planning for a better future with arts and culture

With generous support from the Kresge Foundation, Transportation for America is helping three communities across the country use arts & culture as a vehicle to shape local transportation investments. So what has been happening in Dothan, AL; Indianapolis, IN; and Los Angeles, CA over the last few months?

Many of us are used to thinking about arts and culture as a dance performance at a theater, a museum exhibition, or mural across a building’s side. But arts and culture can extend far beyond the performance or physical structures we typically recognize as art. These three cities in Alabama, California, and Indiana are engaging with community members, building local capacity for civic engagement, and helping build bridges of collaboration by using arts and culture in transportation projects.

Dothan, Alabama

Dothan has been working to shift its culture of planning, transportation, and community engagement towards one that focuses on infrastructure for mobility and walkability. Bob Wilkerson, the city’s long-range planner, has been spearheading efforts to change the physical, cultural, and social landscape of Dothan, particularly along Highway 84, which connects Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine, Southeast Alabama Medical Center, and Dothan’s historic downtown.

Highway 84 is a suburban arterial road focused on moving cars as fast as possible, and lacks sidewalks, bike lanes, and crosswalks. The highway is an important corridor, yet it lacks even basic infrastructure that would allow people to walk or bike safely along the highway. In an effort to change the traditionally technocratic and top-down planning process, T4America supported Dothan’s first interactive community workshop this year in hopes of soliciting the input of residents that are typically left out of the planning process.

Dothan held their landmark community planning meeting at the Wiregrass Museum of Art (WMA)—a natural choice for the meeting’s location, as it’s been a welcoming place for people of all ages and backgrounds due to its signature educational programs for visitors from across the state. But WMA became more than just a meeting place; after the first community planning meeting, the City of Dothan and the museum formed an official partnership to pioneer a new culture in Dothan’s planning practices where the city prioritizes safety, accessibility, and the community’s unique character over just concrete and pavement.

Students from the Boys and Girls Club gather after a tour and art making class at the Wiregrass Museum of Art.

With T4America’s support, Dothan and WMA recently launched an artist-in-residence program and selected Cosby Hayes as their resident artist. Hayes will work closely with Dothan’s low-income communities to ensure their voices are included in city-led planning processes. Hayes will focus on using art as a means for social engagement and community building with the aim of building long-term and trusting relationships between Dothan and its lower-income communities. According to Wilkerson, “the formalization of a partnership between the city and WMA is a positive step forward in the development of a new approach to community building. Such partnerships will serve as strong and valuable assets in the future arena of funding procurement for public infrastructure.”

Los Angeles, California

T4America has partnered with LA Commons to support creative placemaking projects in Hyde Park, a 97 percent non-white neighborhood in southern Los Angeles known for its jazz, hip hop, and black cinema scene. By 2019, Hyde Park will be home to a stop on the Crenshaw/LAX light rail, which will connect Hyde Park to the city’s growing light rail system and the Los Angeles International Airport. Light rail will hopefully bring long-term benefits to Hyde Park residents, but in the meantime, the at-grade construction has brought loud and disruptive noises, unsightly messes, and led to the destruction of roads and sidewalks, which all pose threats to the community’s economic, physical, and emotional vitality. This construction has been especially disheartening to Hyde Park residents, as many in the community opposed the at-grade light rail construction and favored an underground alignment instead (which would have been less intrusive, but far more expensive).

In light of the disruptive construction, LA Commons is using arts & culture to foster ownership and pride among longtime residents, as well as a long-term economic development strategy for local businesses. As Karen Mack of LA Commons explains, “every neighborhood is fantastic and we just need artists to unleash the stories within them.”

Community leaders first began by collaboratively selecting artists to engage with the community. Despite the fact that artists from around the world applied for the position, the panel chose local artists from Hyde Park who could personally relate to and understand the community.
Hyde Park residents gathered at “The Heart of Hyde Park” free event to tell stories, write, and eat together to celebrate the existing community living in the neighborhood, share stories about the neighborhood, and to brainstorm ideas of what a better future for Hyde could look like.

Artists Moses Ball and Dezmond Crockett facilitated the Stories Summit where Hyde Park residents shared their experiences living, working, and growing up in the community. Mack says that the Summit helped “fill a hole in the heart of the community that needs to be healed.” The artists initially collaborated with youth, mentors, and other community members to create non-visual and temporary art, but the projects gained so much enthusiasm that the community is determined on creating permanent visual art pieces, too.

Permanent creative placemaking projects that are currently in the works include light pole medallions and a mural, as well as an ambitious 1.1-mile long installation called Destination Crenshaw, led by Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson, the architectural firm of Perkins + Will, LA Commons, and other community organizations. The project will culminate in an outdoor museum adjacent to the Crenshaw/LAX Line that will celebrate Hyde Park’s rich Black identity.

Check out this video of youth working on the Hyde Park Mural from LA Commons.

Indianapolis

When it comes to transit, Indianapolis has had some inspiring recent successes—from passing a local transit ballot referendum in 2016, to securing $75 million in grant funding from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), to starting construction on an all-electric bus rapid transit (BRT) line through the city and county.

Today, a coalition of nonprofits and public agencies is working to ensure that all of Indy’s residents—independent of zip code—get the most out of the city’s investments in transit. With Indianapolis ranked as one of the most economically immobile metro areas in the country, there’s a strong desire to see BRT and improved bus service help address residents’ poor access to jobs, grocery stores, and community institutions.

An important component of improving access is the creative placemaking that was included in the Marion County Transit Plan. Building off of the city’s intensive outreach that led to successfully passing that transit plan, a cohort of artists have partnered with Transit Drives Indy and the Arts Council of Indianapolis to work with communities along the planned bus routes. The artists are primarily focused on using art to build excitement for and familiarity with IndyGo’s future Red and Purple BRT routes.

In order to create a culture of public transit ridership, the artists are working to engage communities along the planned Red and Purple lines through a multi-year creative placemaking program in advance of the routes’ construction, which starts this summer. Through storytelling, videography, signage, and other creative mediums, artists are working to promote public transit in even the most isolated and auto-dependent communities.

Each of the artists bring their own unique skills and experiences to each project. Big Car Collaborative is using wayfinding to highlight destinations, like schools, pharmacies, recreation centers, and grocery stores within a mile of the four Southside transit stops. Sapphire Theater Company (STC) is using visual and performance techniques to help people imagine themselves in alternative scenarios—since many of Indy’s residents have never ridden public transportation before. STC is using theatre to help residents act through the initial fear of sitting next to a stranger on the bus or being lost and not knowing if you’re heading in the right direction.

Purple Line artist, Wil Marquez of w/ Purpose, leads a workshop to make pinwheels as a tool to help communities think about how the upgraded transit system will improve their access to necessities and opportunities.

Julia Muney Moore, Director of Public Art at Indy’s Arts Council, notes that the selected artists all have diverse creative mediums and started out with varying degrees of experience in community-based arts. The artists met regularly during the development phase of their projects, which helped the artists learn from each other and build their capacity to work at the intersection of civic engagement, arts, and transportation.

Read more about what the artists are doing around the soon-to-be bus stops here.

Curious about what creative placemaking looks like ‘big-picture’?

This is not the first time that T4America has worked directly with cities interested in using art to produce better transportation projects. Three years ago, T4America teamed up with several other cities, as well as a Portland-based non-profit, the Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon (APANO), to help build arts-based engagement in the Jade and Division-Midway districts of Portland. Over a two-year period, more than 20 creative placemaking projects—focusing on issues like transportation, anti-displacement, economic development, and social justice—covered 23 neighborhoods in North, Northeast, and Southeast Portland. Check out this interactive placemaking map that was created in partnership with the Portland State University Geography Department.

Atlanta, GA: More than just a host, a destination

View of downtown Atlanta from Ansley Park. (Image: Richard Cawood, Flickr)

This week, we’re announcing the chair of our host committee for Capital Ideas 2018: the Metro Atlanta Chamber. Here is a note from Dave Williams, Vice President of Infrastructure & Government Affairs at the Metro Atlanta Chamber.

I’m thrilled to announce that the Metro Atlanta Chamber will be chairing the host committee for Capital Ideas 2018 with Transportation for America on December 5-6! We can’t wait to welcome leaders from all over the country to experience Atlanta firsthand. As with the two previous Capital Ideas conferences, you can expect an impressive and wide-ranging lineup of speakers and workshops. You’ll come away highly-motivated and better equipped in influence state-level transportation planning, delivery, and funding. I still remember the amazing time I had in Sacramento in 2016, both at conference sessions and experiencing the city.

Atlanta is the perfect city to host the 2018 conference, as we’re making extraordinary progress on transit, place-making, and economic development.

Now, it’s true; Atlanta is known for its car culture and urban sprawl, like Los Angeles or Houston. But our development patterns have changed profoundly in the last decade, and for the better. Today, Atlanta is at the forefront of building a walkable, bikeable, transit-accessible city; it’s bursting with potential that’s just waiting to be tapped.

We’re expanding our public transit system (MARTA), building denser/more walkable communities, revitalizing neighborhoods with infill development, and have passed major legislation advancing transit funding and governance. We’re building the type of city that attracts and retains young talent (and the companies that want to employ them), that enables people to start and raise a family in a community they love, and that allows older Americans to age in place close to their family and friends.

The Atlanta BeltLine exemplifies this transition and is among the most significant development projects in the U.S. today. It’s a 22-mile network of old rail lines encircling the city that are being re-developed into a multi-use transportation corridor. When completed in 2030, it will include 33 miles of multi-use trails, 22 miles of light rail, 2,000 acres of green space, and connect 45 neighborhoods. You definitely don’t want to leave Atlanta without experiencing the BeltLine firsthand. Ponce City Market, Krog Street Market, and numerous amazing restaurants and bars are located along the BeltLine and promise a good time.

MARTA, the safest U.S. heavy passenger rail system by some measures, is also booming. You’ll be able to take MARTA from the airport to the conference hotel and use it to reach many other notable destinations around the city. Nearly all of metro Atlanta’s recent major economic development wins have been located along MARTA’s heavy rail lines, including State Farm, Mercedes-Benz, NCR, Pulte Homes, Kaiser-Permanente, and many others. And MARTA could soon serve even more people and places around the region; I’m hopeful and confident that Gwinnett and Cobb Counties will become part of the MARTA system in the next few years, expanding MARTA’s footprint by nearly 2 million more residents.

In 2016, Atlanta area voters overwhelmingly approved two taxes for expansions and improvement to MARTA, an expansion of the bike share system, and Complete Streets projects, as well as other pedestrian improvements. Earlier this year, the state approved legislation paving the way for even more transit by allowing 13 counties to raise transit funds through sales taxes. And just last month, Governor Nathan Deal and state officials announced $100 million in funding to help facilitate a new bus rapid transit line along GA-400, one of our most congested highways.

The Metro Atlanta Chamber, along with many partners, has been working continuously to advance transportation and transit since we hosted the 1996 Olympic Games. Transit has played a huge role in helping Atlanta secure several major sports events, including the 2018 College Football Championship, 2018 MLS All-Star Game, Super Bowl LIII (2019), 2020 NCAA Final Four, and are among the sites to host games at the 2026 World Cup. Be sure to check out the College Football Hall of Fame, which is within walking distance of the hotel for the conference, or you can catch a ride on the Atlanta Streetcar.

When it comes to transportation, Atlanta is changing, and change doesn’t always happen smoothly. We’ve experienced great successes, learned from our failures, and are happy to share our stories at Capital Ideas 2018. We hope you’ll join us this December and take advantage of all that Atlanta has to offer. Because we’re not just a host; Atlanta is a destination.

Atlanta truly is at the forefront of reimagining its transportation system for the 21st century and dealing with the challenges of today. That’s one of the reasons we chose it as the location for Capital Ideas 2018. There is a lot of disruption and uncertainty in the transportation world right now from changing lifestyle preferences, to new forms of mobility, to the current unpredictability of the federal government’s status as a funding partner for transportation. The spotlight again turns to states and localities when it comes to policy and funding for transportation.

Reserve your spot at Capital Ideas now before early bird rates expire!

208 local leaders and organizations urge Congress not to back down from federal commitment to transportation

208 local leaders and organizations—including 72 local elected officials—sent a letter to House and Senate appropriators today urging them to continue rejecting the administration’s proposed cuts to transit and passenger rail programs, and the BUILD competitive grant program.

This group of elected officials and organizations, spanning 36 states, urged Congress to continue their commitment to invest in these small but vital programs that help move goods, move people and support the local economies upon which our nation’s prosperity is built.

“This impressive group of 208 signatories are sending a clear message to Congress and the administration: The opportunities provided by these relatively small federal transportation programs are crucial to the long-term vitality of communities across the country,” said Kevin F. Thompson, director of T4America. “Local voters and leaders have been approving billions in tax increases at the ballot box to invest in meeting the growing demand for well-connected communities served by transit. But they’re counting on the federal government to continue its historic role as a reliable funding partner to support these bottom-up efforts to invest in transit.”

As Congress continues working to finalize the 2019 budget, the letter’s signers urge appropriators to “recognize the power transportation investments can and continue to have on making our communities dynamic, livable, and connected places while strengthening our country’s position in the global marketplace.”

The letter continues:

We want all American communities, large and small, across the country to benefit from a multimodal transportation network. We want to rebuild and improve our transportation infrastructure and that begins by ensuring that projects and programs in the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act are fully funded and that the administration’s proposed cuts to key federal transportation programs—including the BUILD (previously TIGER) program, the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Capital Investment Grants (CIG), and long-distance passenger rail programs—are defeated and funding for these programs are secured or enhanced.

As you consider funding levels for fiscal year (FY) 2019, we urge you to prioritize federal investments in our national transportation system, specifically for public transportation and passenger rail service.

The full letter, including the list of all 208 signatories from 36 states, can be found here.

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Senate appropriators reject administration proposals to eliminate transit investment

On Thursday, June 7, the Senate Appropriations Committee marked up and approved the FY19 Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations Act. Kevin F. Thompson, Director of T4America, offered this statement in response:

“Millions of Americans are counting on new or improved transit service to provide options for reaching jobs and opportunity, and local governments are counting on federal funds to leverage local taxpayer revenue and bring these projects to fruition. The Senate Appropriations Committee recognized that need today. By unanimously approving $2.6 billion to fully fund all transit projects in the federal pipeline, Congress is signaling its intent to make local communities stronger and rejecting the Trump administration’s proposal to eliminate funding for transit and leaving every community to fend for itself.

“While the committee members ignored the administration’s requests to deeply cut or eliminate passenger rail programs and the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant program, formerly TIGER, they did provide less funding for next year than was approved in the FY18 appropriations bill. They did so despite the fact that last February’s two-year budget deal allows for greater investment in infrastructure, a stated priority of Congress and the administration. We hope the full Senate will use this bill as a foundation to fund transportation programs at or above FY18 levels to benefit all Americans and truly improve access to opportunity.”

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Urge your representative to support public transit funding in next federal budget

After two straight years of the Trump administration pushing to eliminate all funding for building or improving public transportation systems, Congress is right now deciding how much funding to provide for transit in the FY19 budget. To make sure Congress knows they need to continue rejecting these proposed cuts, T4America is circulating a sign-on letter for organizations and elected officials.

Communities across the country are using transportation as a powerful tool to boost their local economies, whether by remaking the streetscapes on Main Street to better support local businesses, investing in public transit to improve access to jobs, or revitalizing a downtown anchored by an Amtrak station that connects to other communities. Federal transportation funding plays a key role in these efforts, and many communities have raised their own local tax dollars with the expectation that the feds would continue to be a reliable partner in their efforts.

However, unlike past presidents from both parties, the Trump administration has proposed to cut and/or eliminate the federal programs that invest in these strategies for local economic competitiveness. These cuts would result in canceled transit projects, less vibrant communities, and many people stranded without options for getting to work and other necessities. This would pull the rug out from approximately 40 cities that were fully expecting the federal government to share around 50 percent of the cost—many of which have already raised new transportation revenues from voters at the ballot box.

Congress is in the annual process of putting together the FY19 appropriations bills and they are deciding right now how much funding to provide for these vital programs. We need to join our voices together and urge them to prioritize investments that support local communities, public transportation and passenger rail service.

We are organizing a sign-on letter for local or community organizations and local elected officials to call for robust investment in these programs. Sign this letter of support that we will deliver to House and Senate appropriators.

Click here to sign the letter

The letter urges Congress to provide robust funding for transit capital grants, the BUILD program (which replaces TIGER), and various passenger rail programs. As our letter says:

We want all American communities, large and small, across the country to benefit from a multimodal transportation network. We want to rebuild and improve our transportation infrastructure and that begins by ensuring that projects and programs in the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act are fully funded and that the administration’s proposed cuts to key federal transportation programs—including the BUILD (previously TIGER) program, the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Capital Investment Grants (CIG), and long-distance passenger rail programs—are defeated and funding for these programs are secured or enhanced.

If you represent a local or national organization, or are an elected official at any level, click here to read and sign the full letter.

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Note: For the wonks among you who want to know all the finer points and funding levels, the letter calls for maintaining authorized funding levels of federal transportation programs in the FY19 appropriations process. Specifically:

Fund the Federal Transit Administration transit capital investment grants program at or above the FY18 level of $2.645 billion.
Continue supporting the 56 projects in 41 communities that are anticipating federal transit funding by requiring the USDOT to sign Full Funding Grant Agreements (FFGAs) for these projects, advance them through the pipeline, and obligate these dollars so construction can begin. This funding is critical to all future rail and bus rapid transit projects.
Fund the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant program at or above the FY18 level of $1.5 billion. This fiercely competitive program (formerly known as TIGER) is one of the few ways that local communities of almost any size can directly receive federal dollars for their priority transportation projects.
Provide funding for Amtrak’s national network at or above the FY18 level of $1.292 billion and $650 million for the Northeast Corridor.
Fund the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure Safety and Improvement (CRISI) grants at or above the FY18 level of $592 million.
And lastly, fund the Restoration and Enhancement (R&E) grants for passenger rail at or above the FY18 level of $20 million.

Read the full text of the letter here. And sign the letter today.

Summary of House Fiscal Year 2019 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Bill

On May 16 the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation and Housing (THUD) passed, by voice vote, its funding bill for fiscal year 2019 (FY19). Under this bill, the U.S. Department of Transportation is funded at $71.8 billion for FY19. This is $1.5 billion above the FY2018 enacted level. The full House appropriations committee is expected to markup the bill on May 23.

The following is a brief summary of key parts of the bill.

Capital Investment Grants (CIG)

The bill provides $ 2.614 billion for CIG, a 0.5 percent increase over the FY18 enacted level. The bill requires the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) to advance projects through the pipeline and to obligate $2.222 billion by the end of 2020. In addition, the bill directs the Trump Administration to reissue the FY19 Report to Congress with allocations for projects. The bill allocates CIG funding as follows:

Existing New Starts full-funding grant agreements (FFGA): $836 million
Additional New Starts projects (e.g. in project engineering, project development phases): $500 million
Core Capacity projects with FFGAs: $200 million
Additional Core Capacity projects: $550 million
Small Starts projects: $502 million

BUILD

The bill directs $750 million to Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) grants (formerly known as the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant program). This allocation represents a 50 percent reduction in funding compared with the FY18 enacted funding level of $1.5 billion; however, it is a 50 percent increase in funding for the program when compared to historic funding trends for TIGER that have generally been appropriated for $500 million annually.

The funding is allocated as follows:

Projects in rural areas (below 200,000 in population): $250 million
Projects in urbanized areas (above 200,000 in population): $250 million
Projects at seaports or intermodal facilities: $250 million

Historically, funding for the TIGER/BUILD program has not been apportioned by geography or mode by statute, though there has been a mandatory set aside for rural projects and a requirement for geographic diversity. Historically grants have been distributed across all modes and a broad geography of the county.

The bill requires USDOT to conduct a new competition to select projects to fund. USDOT must issue a NOFO within 60 days of enactment of the appropriation, set a deadline for applications within 90 days of enactment, and award grants within 270 days of enactment.

The bill prohibits USDOT from using federal share of project funding as a selection criteria.

The bill also sets the minimum BUILD award at $5 million and the maximum at $25 million.

Highway programs

The bill obligates $45 billion from the Highway Trust Fund for Federal-Aid Highway programs, as authorized by the FAST Act. The bill appropriates an additional $4.25 billion from the general fund to highway programs. This additional funding is allocated to:

Construction of highways, bridges, and tunnels: $3.812 billion
Highway safety improvement projects: $250 million
Puerto Rico Highway Program: $31 million
Territorial Highway Program: $8 million
Tribal Transportation Program: $50 million
Nationally Significant Federal Lands and Tribal Projects Program: $100 million

These amounts are apportioned to the states, tribes, and territories through the same formulas as funds from the Highway Trust Fund.

The supplemental General Fund allotment for highway safety improvement projects is exempted from the high-risk rural road safety rule that requires states to direct additional funds to rural highway safety projects if the fatality rate on rural highways increases.

Transit grants

The bill appropriates $9.9 billion from the Mass Transit Account of the Highway Trust Fund to transit formula programs, as authorized by the FAST Act. The bill provides an additional $800 million from the general fund for transit capital grants, allocated to:

Bus and Bus Facilities: $350 million (of which $50 million is for No and Low Emission Buses)
State of Good Repair: $200 million
Rural formula grants (Section 5311): $50 million
Urbanized area formula grants (Section 5307): $150 million
Growing States and High Density States formula grants (section 5340): $50 million

Rail

Rail infrastructure and safety programs are funded at $3.2 billion, $63 million over the FY18 enacted level. The bill provides a total of $1.9 billion for Amtrak, of which $650 million is for the Northeast Corridor and $1.3 billion is to support the national network. The bill also provides $221 million to fund FRA’s safety, operations, research and development activities. The Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement (CRISI) Grants Program is funded at $300 million, of which $150 million is for Positive Train Control. The Federal-State Partnership for State of Good Repair Grants program is funded at $500 million and the Restoration and Enhancement Grants program is not funded.

Looking ahead: Senate

The Senate THUD subcommittee is expected to consider its own FY19 funding bill the week of June 4.

For questions or more information, please contact Scott Goldstein at scott.goldstein@t4america.org or 202-971-3911.

ICYMI Member Webinar: New round of BUILD Transportation Discretionary Grants now open

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) released the FY 2018 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the program formerly known as Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER). The NOFO declares that USDOT has rebranded TIGER as the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development or “BUILD” program. The criteria for funding under BUILD and TIGER are essentially the same—with one big caveat. Under BUILD, USDOT will now require applicants to provide evidence that they have secured and committed new, non-federal revenue for projects requesting funding. Read more here.

Listen to the exclusive preview of how to make your application stand out here. Our senior policy and transportation expert Beth Osborne, and Robert A. Mariner Deputy Director from the Office of Infrastructure Finance and Innovation at USDOT, went over the timeline, deadlines, and the new requirements of this round of applications.

Also, remember that we are here to help with your application. As a T4America member you get one-on-one time with our experts to discuss your application. Contact me at alicia.orosco@t4america.org to set up your meeting today!

Capital Ideas 2018 Conference— Call for session proposals now open

Mark your calendars for the 2018 edition of Transportation for America’s national conference for those interested in forward-looking state transportation policy and funding solutions.

In light of the Trump administration’s rhetorical and policy shift away from direct federal funding for transportation investments, the spotlight again turns to states and localities when it comes to policy and funding for transportation. Over 30 states have stepped up and passed new transportation funding legislation since 2012. An unfortunately much smaller number of states have passed smart policies to reform how those dollars are spent.

Capital Ideas 2018, will offer a highly interactive curriculum of model state legislation, campaign tactics, innovative policies, and peer-to-peer collaboration to help participants advance successful proposals to raise new funding for transportation and ensure those dollars are wisely spent to accomplish tangible goals and help states stay competitive in the 21st century. Our 3rd biennial national conference to be held in Atlanta, GA on Wednesday, December 5, 2018 and Thursday, December 6, 2018.

Call for session proposals now open

Transportation for America invites cutting-edge proposals for conference roundtable sessions and general plenary sessions that pertain to the emerging paradigm shift characterizing our transportation landscape today—disruption and uncertainty. The plenary and roundtable discussions at Capital Ideas 2018 seeks to address the following questions:

How will states manage their role in transportation funding & policy during this time of dramatic transition and change?
What is the appropriate role of state government in a disruptive world of transportation policy?
What can states do to ensure that our transportation network is equitable, accessible, safe and affordable?
Are our investment decisions today ensuring stronger local economies, greater access to opportunity and jobs, cleaner environments, healthier populations or better mobility for everyone in the future?
With a continually shifting and uncertain future for federal transportation funding, how can states successfully fund transportation investments and how will they demonstrate the value of their investments?

All plenary and session proposals are due on June 15, 2018 at 8 p.m. EDT. Submitted your plenary and or session proposal here. Also remember that as a T4America member you get a discounted member ticket price. Conference registration opens on May 8, 2018. Learn more here.

Smart Cities Collaborative hits the ground running in year two

Returning in a bigger fashion than the first year with 23 cities instead of 16, our Smart Cities Collaborative picked up where we left off with the launch of year two last week in Denver, CO.

It’s only been a few short months since we wrapped up the first year of the Collaborative, but we’ve still seen significant developments in how new and emerging technologies are reshaping the right-of-way and curb space. One instructive example is what’s currently happening in cities with dockless bike- and scooter-sharing systems—and how fast it’s happening.

When our first cohort of 16 cities gathered in Minneapolis on the day after the presidential election in 2016, there wasn’t a single dockless bikesharing system operating in any of these 16 cities. As pilot projects launched in Seattle, Washington, DC, and others in 2017, it became clear that dockless would have huge impacts in the year to come.

With huge pilots underway in multiple cities, dockless bikesharing will be THE bikesharing story of 2018: https://t.co/syP36GyP0k

— Transport. 4 America (@T4America) October 27, 2017

Nine months later and dockless is certainly a growing fixture in scores of cities. This might have been an obvious prediction, but even we didn’t quite see the scooters coming so fast. Less than 18 months after that first Collaborative meeting, dozens of cities are now scrambling to develop new approaches to dockless scooters (as well as the bikes) that are rapidly expanding on their streets and fighting for scarce curb and sidewalk space, but also providing popular new mobility options for getting around our congested cities.

In 2016, Uber (and Google’s Waymo) were just dipping their toes in the water on testing automated vehicles (AVs). Lured to Arizona by a friendly (i.e., mostly just non-existent) regulatory environment, they both started testing AVs in mid to late 2016 with relatively small fleets of cars, which have quickly grown to hundreds on the road in Arizona (and elsewhere). But now, cities (and states and Congress) are determining how they should proceed in the wake of the first fatal AV crash in Tempe, AZ.

This is the pace of change that cities are dealing with when it comes to urban mobility and technology: Completely new mobility models from concept to widespread rollout in less than 18 months.

Standing still or just waiting to see how things develop simply isn’t a viable strategy for cities that want to harness this change for the benefit of their cities and their residents. They have to be proactive.

That’s why over 60 participants from 43 agencies representing 23 cities came to Denver last week for the kickoff meeting of the Collaborative’s second cohort.

Though this new cohort brought scores of new faces to the Collaborative (thirteen cities from last year returned), the spirit of collaboration and cooperation carried over in full. From the moment participants arrived from the airport in to Denver’s Union Station, they quickly and easily engaged with one another about the challenges they’re facing in their cities, the projects they’re working on, and started getting to know each other.

Similar to our first kickoff meeting in Minneapolis last year, the goal of this meeting was to get participants to know one another, identify the challenges they’re trying to solve, and develop tangible action plans for the year — not just to set goals, but also to identify areas for collaboration with other cities.

We were incredibly lucky to have Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock stop by to welcome everyone to the city, and also ground us with a reminder that the core purpose of this work is to make our cities better places to live for everyone — not just for a privileged few.

“This is much broader than just ‘what does the road look like,’” Mayor Hancock said. “It’s also an opportunity for us to lean in and lead with our values and be inclusive. And making sure that those people who are most challenged in our communities have an opportunity to raise themselves up by lifting those burdens of the cost of housing and transportation off of their shoulders,” he concluded.

Unlike last year, where some cities were still figuring out their projects during our kickoff meeting, many of the participants arrived in Denver with a much clearer idea of what they plan to work on over the course of this year.

But instead of diving straight into the details of these projects, we took a step back to get participants on the same page for talking and thinking about these projects, and to make sure their projects had a clearly identified problem and outcome in mind. That’s why we’re perpetually asking, “What problem are you trying to solve?” because we all too often rush straight to the solution or a specific piece of technology.

Throughout the first day, the experts and panel discussions and conversations focused on the bigger picture of where technology is going, what trends are real (or not real), and why collaboration is vital for having any chance to stay ahead of the curve. Participants also identified the long-term vision for their city and, reflecting Mayor Hancock’s comments above, discussed strategies for improving equity through their projects, and hard-coding that goal into all of their processes.

Having set the tone in day one, teams from each of the cities spent the bulk of the second day developing their action plans for the coming year. But in keeping with the modus operandi of the Collaborative, they started hashing out their action plans in a cooperative format with 10-12 people from other cities who are working on a similar specific issue, such as a dynamic curb management pilot project.

This helps connect them directly with their peers who are working on similar issues and see where opportunities for greater collaboration exist. And it’s hard to overstate how valuable these structured (and unstructured) opportunities are for connecting with peers facing similar challenges in other cities.

There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. If one particular city has made progress in rolling out a new strategy to better manage curb space, or a new pilot program for flexible delivery zones, for example, other cities can and should replicate their successes and learn how to avoid the pitfalls others encountered along the way.

They only had a few hours to develop them, but the cities’ action plan presentations were sharp, focused, and calibrated to tackle their real problems with real outcomes in mind over the next year. Presentations covered a wide range of topics: permitting processes for dockless bikeshare and scooters, loading zone pilots for ridesourcing and delivery vehicles, first-mile/last-mile microtransit pilots, new performance metrics to assess “transportation happiness,” and much more.

Like last year, this year’s cohort has an enthusiasm and excitement to collaborate with one another and collectively shape the future of transportation. It was a busy two days, but participants stuck around at the end of the meeting to weigh in on their projects with one another, ask questions, and exchange information for future conversations.

Representing metro areas that are collectively home to almost a full third of the US population (and a huge chunk of Canada via the inclusion of Toronto), the decisions these leaders are making will affect how we think and talk about transportation for years down the road. After this first two-day stretch with this new group of 60+ leaders, we’re confident that they are headed in the right direction when it comes to navigating the rapid changes coming to urban transportation.

We’re looking forward to being part of this conversation and to our next in-person meeting of the Collaborative this July in Seattle.

This post was written by Transportation for America’s Rob Benner and Steve Davis.

22 communities selected to participate in the second cohort of T4America’s Smart Cities Collaborative

Transportation for America is pleased to announce the 22 communities selected to participate in the second cohort of the organization’s Smart Cities Collaborative program that will continue exploring how emerging technologies and new mobility options can improve urban transportation. Over the coming year, the Collaborative will once again bring together cities to cooperatively tackle the challenges related to implementing smart mobility policies and projects.

“Whether electric scooters, new dockless bikesharing systems, curbside delivery, or ridesourcing services, the pace of innovation is accelerating and these technologies and new mobility options are already on our streets and having an impact in our communities.” said Russ Brooks, Transportation for America’s Director of Smart Cities. “The cities participating in the Collaborative understand that they can’t sit by and let the private sector determine their fate. These cities are eager to engage proactively to ensure that the benefits of these technologies accrue to all parts of society and don’t create a new generation of transportation haves and have-nots.”

This year’s cohort will focus on how emerging technologies and new mobility options are reshaping the right-of-way and curb space, and changing the way we move through our communities.

“Cities have to move people and goods as efficiently as possible to thrive. Streets and curb space are some of the most important assets cities control, yet they’re often undermanaged. There is increasing demand for the right-of-way, and access to the curb is becoming the most desired piece of real estate in a city. Our goal is to empower cities to more effectively manage these assets at their disposal to solve their transportation challenges and become more efficient, safe, and equitable cities,” said Brooks.

Over 50 cities applied to be a part of the Collaborative this year, with 12 of the 16 cities in the first cohort of the Collaborative returning to continue in this second year. The inaugural cohort tackled challenges related to automated vehicles, shared mobility and how to use data to manage complex transportation networks.

“Seattle is excited to be one of the 12 cities returning to the Collaborative for a second year. The Collaborative is a terrific venue for cities to work cooperatively, share our thinking, and develop solutions to our common challenges. During the first year, the Collaborative helped us learn lessons from other cities as we advance and iterate our own new mobility strategies. We have directly employed what we learned from the Collaborative as we anticipate transportation disruption and continue to build a safe, people-centered, equitable, and carbon-free transportation system in Seattle,” said Evan Corey Costagliola, New Mobility Program Manager at the Seattle Department of Transportation.

The Collaborative will hold its first meeting in Denver on April 16-17. Throughout the year the communities will participate in a variety of interactive workshops, both with each other and with industry-leading transportation experts. From there, the participants will receive direct technical assistance and share the results of their projects with the rest of the Collaborative to drive best practices across the country.

The 22 communities participating in the Collaborative in 2018 are:

Atlanta, GA
Austin, TX
Boulder, CO
Centennial, CO
Gainesville, FL
Houston, TX
Indianapolis, IN
Los Angeles, CA
Madison, WI
Miami-Dade, FL
Minneapolis, MN

New York, NY
Pittsburgh, PA
Portland, OR
San Diego, CA
San Francisco, CA
San Jose, CA
Santa Monica, CA
Seattle, WA
Toronto, ON
Washington, DC
West Sacramento, CA

Sign up for news from the Smart Cities Collaborative. You don’t have to participate in the Collaborative to hear more about what these 22 cities are learning, what they’re sharing with one another, and what we’re all reading each week when it comes to the rapidly evolving world of urban mobility. Click the button below and tick the box for Smart Cities news.

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What have participants said about the Smart Cities Collaborative?

In 2016, supported by Sidewalk Labs, T4 America created the inaugural Smart Cities Collaborative cohort to help 16 cities proactively harness emerging technologies to improve mobility & quality of life. Here’s what some of the participants from that inaugural class of 16 cities had to say during that first year.