Transit and Micromobility (2021) / Chapter Skim
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22 Regulatory and Policy Review This chapter examines the policy environment surrounding shared micromobility, including areas of regulation and areas where regulatory approaches are still in flux. Since this report is focused particularly on transit agencies and their interaction with micromobility, a large part of this chapter examines the specific policymaking and regulatory role of public transit agencies.
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Regulatory and Policy Review 23 area -- excluding downtown business and entertainment districts, heavily populated areas along the lakefront, and several major transit corridors (Chicago 2020a)
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24 Transit and Micromobility Fleet caps can appear as a per-operator cap, a citywide fleet cap, a limitation on the number of permitted operators, or some combination of the three approaches. A number of jurisdictions use fleet caps as a central part of a performance-based regulatory approach that aligns operator incentives with public goals.
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Regulatory and Policy Review 25 Utilization targets, usually expressed as an operator's fleet-wide average trips or rides per vehicle per day (rvd) , can help ensure that the right number of vehicles are deployed, with jurisdictions ideally adjusting fleet caps to reflect market signals: raising caps as growing utilization demonstrates sufficient demand or reducing them if low utilization suggests that too many vehicles are on the street.
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26 Transit and Micromobility Operator Responsibilities: Parking Enforcement, Rebalancing, Maintenance, and Communications Many jurisdictions place the onus of regulatory enforcement on private operators, outlining regulations dependent on user behavior, such as parking and permitted locations for riding, as well as regulations more centered on fleet operations, such as rebalancing, vehicle maintenance, and outreach to and communications with users. In the case of user behavior, especially around vehicle parking, operators often pass fines or penalties through to the responsible riders under their user agreements.
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Regulatory and Policy Review 27 Geographical equity approaches may be enforced through a combination of increased fleet caps for better performance and reduced fleet caps or even fines for subpar performance or noncompliance. Each operator is commonly required to submit an equity plan detailing its approach.
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28 Transit and Micromobility information (although this can be derived from it) nor can it communicate information about paths of travel.
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Regulatory and Policy Review 29 Through these partnerships, transit agencies seek to: • Enhance transit access and increase ridership – Transit agencies and cities are both concerned about safe and efficient access to transit stops to foster first- and last- mile micromobility access. • Support cities in managing network demand – Micromobility is one of many demandmanagement tools that engender mode shift.
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Key Policy Areas (Mutual City/Transit Agency Interest) City DOT Roles Transit Agency Roles Transit Agency Interests Enhance Access and Increase Ridership Support Cities in Managing Network Demand Inform Service and Infrastructure Decisions and Evaluate Partnerships Safe access at stations Parking organization and wayside support • Install bike racks and designated micromobility corrals on city rightof-way • Regulate and ensure compliance through digital policy that micromobility devices cannot be parked in places that block pedestrian right-of-way and transit access (e.g., through geofencing)
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Digital policy and data sharing • Adopt common data specifications (e.g., GBFS and MDS) • Require the use of data specifications to enable operational restrictions and associated digital compliance and enforcement • Establish data-sharing agreements with transit agencies and vendors • Require geofencing of certain areas to meet safety, saturation, and sensible deployment objectives • Establish and digitally enforce static or dynamic device caps • Set data-sharing requirements in micromobility operating permit • Ensure that contracted or internal data platforms can ingest, store, and protect sensitive mobility data • Ensure that data can be shared with transit agency partners • Establish data-access agreements with cities • Communicate agency data needs related to micromobility and establish data use agreements • Partner with cities to geofence transit conflict areas and supply transit facilities with enough micromobility devices while minimizing oversaturating • Ensure that cities can share data with agencies for planning purposes and that this is built into any permit program App/fare integration • Require or incentivize sharing realtime vehicle availability in mobility as a service or other multimodal trip-planning applications • Require or incentivize integrated fare payments in coordination with vendors • Work with cities and providers toward API integration for multimodal trip planning • Work toward digital fare integration in partnership with vendors (continued on next page)
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Key Policy Areas (Mutual City/Transit Agency Interest) City DOT Roles Transit Agency Roles Transit Agency Interests Enhance Access and Increase Ridership Support Cities in Managing Network Demand Inform Service and Infrastructure Decisions and Evaluate Partnerships Enforcement and compliance • Establish compliance thresholds and enforcement actions for noncompliance (e.g., reductions in fleet size, fines, permit suspension, or revocation)
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Market incentives • Set incentives (e.g., fleet cap increases, service area expansion, fee reductions) for meeting or exceeding policy goals • Ensure that regulations are not so onerous that they generate disinterest in a market • Partner with vendors on stationarea operations and policy goals on transit access/connection • With future digital fare integration, there is potential to provide user subsidies for micromobility services as an extension of the transit system Equity • Ensure equitable distribution of micromobility devices through permit requirements • Require operators to develop lowincome and accessible device programs to increase equitable access and reduce cost burden • Partner with operators or community organizations to provide equitable access and educational programs • Ensure that equitable access programs consider access to and from transit, enhance multimodal connections, and prioritize areas with service gaps • Combine reduced-fare programs with micromobility low-income programs to establish integrated mobility programs Program funding and revenue • Set permit fees and fines to cover program administration, system management, enforcement administration, staffing needs, and other needs that meet the fee nexus • Possibly contribute financial or in-kind resources to cities to better operate and manage micromobility programs Customer service • Require a certain level of vendor responsiveness to customer service complaints (e.g., address sidewalk obstructions within 2 hours of customer complaint)
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34 Transit and Micromobility transit agencies can ensure that these services meet agency and city goals. There are five key areas in which this built-environment coordination takes place: • Transit access and parking • Street management and first/last mile • Demand management • Data (and its relationship to the built environment)
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Regulatory and Policy Review 35 maneuverability of these devices within a transit system and increasing the need for adequate device parking at stops and stations. Street/Sidewalk Management and First/Last Mile Transit agencies and local governments are concerned about the design and management of streets and sidewalks given the rise in use of micromobility devices.
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36 Transit and Micromobility transit agencies and cities are also proactive in coordinating and organizing around designated parking areas and mobility hubs. Agencies have leveraged physical and digital tools to manage the capacity, parking, and infrastructure demands of these services.
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Regulatory and Policy Review 37 Santa Monica's experience demonstrates an example of designated micromobility parking areas in locations across the city, including several near transit. The city designated 107 micromobility parking areas at on- and off-street locations during its dockless mobility pilot.
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38 Transit and Micromobility at a nearby library instead of directly in a plaza due to gentrification concerns raised by local advocates (Rudick 2019)
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Regulatory and Policy Review 39 Some agencies are going beyond regulatory approaches and directly partnering with micromobility operators. The Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority (RTA)
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40 Transit and Micromobility implementation. Washington, D.C., requires every company to deploy at least 400 dockless vehicles (approximately 52% of the total fleet)
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Regulatory and Policy Review 41 is one of the leading carriers of bicycles on board trains in the United States, and its onboard carrying capacity is filled almost daily. In 2019, Caltrain began work on the "Caltrain Bike Parking and Micromobility Analysis and Implementation Plan" (Caltrain 2019b)
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42 Transit and Micromobility management tools that empower cities and transit agencies to better understand their riders' movement across the system, control where companies deploy micromobility devices, and manage where riders park them. These digital management objectives are enabled by the development of the MDS, which was pioneered by LADOT and is now managed by the OMF.
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Regulatory and Policy Review 43 the center city, the entire city was covered by bikeshare supply. However, the city's most disadvantaged neighborhoods saw low ridership, suggesting that providing an option does equate to access, nor does it overcome barriers to use in underserved neighborhoods (SDOT 2018; Cohen 2018)
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