As cities commit to Vision Zero, they have started to examine intersections and roadway segments with high crash rates, serious injuries, and fatalities to pedestrians. What they have found is that a small percent of roadways account for a large portion of serious crashes. And crashes disproportionately affect certain populations.
data
Chicago opens TNC data to the public
Getting data from transportation network companies for planning and other purposes has been a challenge. Agencies want to understand where TNCs are operating in order to address curb management, congestion, and transit-cannibalization issues. But TNCs have viewed such data as proprietary and have been reluctant to share. Chicago, however, has an advantage over many cities in this area, due to its per-ride TNC tax established four years ago. Now the city has made that data public.
Chicago opens TNC data to the public
Getting data from transportation network companies for planning and other purposes has been a challenge. Agencies want to understand where TNCs are operating in order to address curb management, congestion, and transit-cannibalization issues. But TNCs have viewed such data as proprietary and have been reluctant to share. Chicago, however, has an advantage over many cities in this area, due to its per-ride TNC tax established four years ago. Now the city has made that data public.
Parking, ride-hailing, and shifting traveler needs
According to a new study out of Denver, one-quarter of ride-hailing trips replace driving, which reduces the need for parking, particularly at specific land uses. Difficulty parking is also a key reason people are shifting to ride-hailing services, which suggests that places where parking is most difficult or expensive can expect a shift in demand to curbside pickup and drop off.
Connected cars and data sharing to improve road safety?
Wide scale advancements in technology and data sharing has brought about a change in the decision-making process of many sectors, but this has until now mostly missed the auto industry. However, connected and autonomous vehicles are ready to break this wall and the “wave of attribution” is finally coming to driving behavior. A collaboration between Ford, Uber, and Lyft will share data over a common platform called SharedStreets and aims to improve roadway safety and curbside management.
New multimodal trip data on the horizon
StreetLight Data, which provides trip-making data compiled from cellphones and mobile devices, recently announced a new multimodal data initiative called “M2.” The company has offered data from personal and commercial vehicles for several years. SSTI used these data for a study of travel demand management opportunities in Northern Virginia. By incorporating additional data from location-based services, the company can now identify trips made by walking, biking, transit, and potentially other modes.
Curbs: A new data frontier
State and local transportation agencies have long focused on what’s happening between the curbs—collecting data about the speed, volume, and types of vehicles moving along each road—but growing competition for curb space from parked cars, bikes, taxis, TNCs, and deliveries presents new challenges both in terms of data and policy. Fortunately, data experts are stepping up to the task.
Opportunities and potential bias in new transportation data
A new issue brief from the Center for American Progress examines congestion on roadways in the United States and considers the potential and pitfalls of new data sources, such as those provided by private ride hailing companies including Uber and others. Although cities are eager to access these private sources of data, the report warns that planners should be careful of relying too heavily on these sources.
Big data enables new tool for analyzing and diagnosing traffic congestion
StreetLight Data, which provides trip-making data from mobile devices and smartphone apps, has just launched a new interactive Congestion Analysis tool. The tool lets subscribers identify congested roads by time of day, break down the traffic in terms of trip length, trip purpose, and other characteristics, and then focus on specific strategies to relieve demand.
Tapping into TNC data
With the rise of transportation network companies like Uber and Lyft, and growing concerns about their effects on traffic and curb usage, transportation agencies and local governments are eager for data. Data from TNCs, however, are heavily guarded. Many governments are trying to negotiate agreements with these companies and working on laws that require data sharing. Others, however, are getting more creative.