I’m excited to be chatting with a fellow mobility podcaster today. We’ll talk about Michelle’s new book, plus get insight into the transit industry and new mobility. She brings unique perspective to the mobility discussion because of her background and has a lot of interesting insights into the industry.
Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of investor calls for those interested in the mobility space. This is something we offer as part of our consulting services. In addition to consulting, we also offer custom surveys for products. If you have a business and want to see how it resonates with your audience, send me an email at harry [at] therideshareguy.com or visit our Consulting page.
Intro to Michelle Kyrouz
- Writer, lawyer and podcast host
- 20 years experience as a regulatory lawyer
- Hosts Smarter Cars podcast
- Writes about transportation policy and shared mobility in cities
The New Mobility Handbook
- Brings together concepts around new mobility, technology
- Urbanist policies that cities need to keep traffic moving
- Nothing really out there in the market that brought together all of these new mobility concepts
- Brings together two different worlds
City Design + New Mobility
- Cities were set up over 50 years ago – have not changed with the times
- Drive and park is the ‘normal’, but space needs to be reallocated
- If you only look at the short term, you miss a lot of key benefits
- Transitioning people out of cars is possible if we don’t penalize rideshare
How to Explain the Benefits of New Mobility
- Important to explain how it impacts people
- When people can see a direct correlation, more in favor of change
- Pilot studies are key
- Answer isn’t always to ‘expand the roads’ for cars
Micromobility
- ‘The third lane’ – brings in a whole new group of riders (bicyclists, for example)
- Cities need to create protected lanes and spaces
- Flywheel of support for policies – these policies become popular
- If you care about getting people out of cars, you should support micromobility
Unbundling the Car
- Not having cars changes the way people think of trips
- Encourages them to think outside of car usage – scooters, bikes, etc.
- If we keep imposing more costs on rideshare companies, cities are putting thumb on scale and pushing personal car ownership
- Multi-modal puzzle hinges on the ability to get a car when you need one
How Has COVID Impacted Mobility?
- Sharing space with other people – inability to do that has hit transit and rideshare pretty hard
- People have started to use more micromobility
- Will have to see how this plays out – devastating for public transit
- Given the importance of micromobility, cities should carve out more spaces on the street + reduce fees to make these services more affordable
- Who gets a break? Cars or micromobility?
Outro
- Thanks to Michelle for coming on and talking about new mobility!
- Highly recommend her new book, The New Mobility Handbook
- I think the positives outweigh the negatives when it comes to rideshare and new mobility
