Day 4: NACTO & BBSP & Cities for Cycling Roundtable

by Farrah Daniel, Better Bike Share Partnership Writer

July 7, 2020

On June 15, the National Association of Transportation Officials and BBSP kicked off the third annual BBSP Bike Share and Cities for Cycling Roundtable. This year, the roundtable welcomes the host cities of Baltimore, MD; Alexandria and Arlington, VA; and Washington DC 

Due to COVID-19, things will look a little different this year — the roundtable has gone virtual! While it will be a shift from previous years, 2020’s two-week virtual event will still create plenty of space for city practitioners to “connect for a peer learning opportunity to discuss the changing landscape of shared micromobility, and explore how increased ridership might impact bike lane design and bike infrastructure,” writes NACTO.

Between the panels, interactive workshops and design exercises, participants will walk away with “new tools and implementation techniques to build better bike networks, as well as brainstorm process changes and challenges for managing and regulating shared micromobility.”

It’s important to note that the roundtable is only open to those working directly for cities, with the exception of two public events that welcomes everyone. But to keep you in the loop, BBSP will be regularly sharing mini-blogs about the daily events and what they entailed — let’s see what day 4 had to offer!

Day 4, June 18 – What is Equitable Mobility?

Workshop Discussion Leaders: 

  • Kerby Olsen – Oakland
  • Meg Young – Baltimore
  • Roshin Kurian – Portland 
  • Waffiyyah Murray – Philadelphia 

Workshop Objective: With the added context of COVID-19 and uprisings against racial injustice, this workshop will provide a space for shared micromobility practitioners to discuss what it means for shared micromobility systems to be equitable during this time, various technical approaches to building out these systems, and what information and resources are needed to ensure success.

Some Takeaways

Baltimore 

  • Transportation options help people in Baltimore City to live their daily lives and access jobs, healthcare, recreational space, healthy food, and everyday amenities. Through regulation that focuses on equity goals, dockless vehicles can be an additional transportation option, thereby helping to reduce racial, generational, and geographical transportation disparities that affect Baltimore residents.
  • The city of Baltimore learned valuable lessons when Freddie Gray was murdered by law enforcement, especially about the many calls for justice from Black and Brown communities.
  • Equity Zones are an essential part of the Baltimore City Dockless Vehicle Permit Program that are designed to help increase access across the city. By requiring each company to deploy three vehicles to each zone each morning, service is provided to underserved areas, and users without smartphones know where they may reliably find vehicles.

Resources shared:

Portland

  • To serve lower-income riders, Portland automatically qualifies riders for the bike share access program if they receive or qualify for local or state assistance programs. 
  • The city is dedicated to race- and equity-centered accountability as well as creating programs for its vulnerable populations.
  • Portland will soon launch bike parking alongside town parking as a way to create more access for riders. Additionally, they’re focusing on building out more greenways in East Portland — where many people of color have been displaced — to connect those networks to the ones in urban centers.

Resource shared: Racial Equity-Centered Results-Based Accountability

Oakland Resource shared: Oakland Equity Indicators: Measuring Change Toward Greater Equity in Oakland

Q&A

Q: Could the panelists talk a little about how the micromobility engagement interacts with other types of engagement that your city does?

  • Philadelphia: Equitable Vision Zero initiatives; bike-related projects; creating more access to transit, train and rail services. For Philadelphia it’s not about the bike but rather the tools, the engagement, having conversations with everyone
  • Oakland and Portland: Checking in with people through the mayor’s office to see what they need; offering free rides and bike share passes; $50 of free credit on those services or helping them sign up. 

The session ended with a breakout activity!

Done with the Day 4  recap? Check out the other recaps to see what the roundtable had to offer:

To stay up-to-date with this event, keep up with our daily blogs and follow the hashtag #2020BikeRoundtable on Twitter!

The Better Bike Share Partnership is a JPB Foundation-funded collaboration between the City of Philadelphia, the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) and the PeopleForBikes Foundation to build equitable and replicable bike share systems. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram or sign up for our weekly newsletter. Story tip? Write farrah@peopleforbikes.org.