Alphabet's Sidewalk Labs, a sister company of
Google, recently began negotiating a plan to help
restructure the public transportation system in
Columbus, Ohio, after the city won the Obama
administration's national competition to ease
traffic gridlock issues.
Sidewalk Labs will leverage its cloud-based
transportation data to help Columbus implement
a public bus and parking system that will help
ease traffic congestion and provide greater
access for low-income communities. The plan
calls for eventually incorporating ride-sharing and
cycling, as well as the possible deployment of
autonomous vehicles.
Cloud Data
The project leverages Flow, a collaborative effort
of Sidewalk Labs and seven finalists in the
Department of Transportation's Smart City
Challenge.
"Flow is about using data and analytics to help
cities work with their citizens to increase the
efficiency of road, parking and transit use,
improving access to mobility for all," said Anand
Babu, chief operating officer of Sidewalk Labs.
"Flow will allow cities to understand their
transportation systems in real time and could be
used to improve and plan public transportation,
guide drivers directly to parking, or point
commuters to shared mobility options they can
use when public transportation is not an option."
Columbus is putting together a team to begin
implementing the Smart City plan, said Robin
Davis, a spokesperson for the city.
However, a final plan has not been reached, and
the platform has not yet been put together,
according to a source familiar with the talks.
The Columbus Challenge
U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary
Anthony Foxx last month announced Columbus
had beat out 78 cities to win the Smart City
challenge. The winning proposal calls for
Columbus to create a new rapid transit system
for buses, install street-side mobility kiosks, add
smart lighting to help pedestrian safety, and
improve access to healthcare for underserved
neighborhoods.
"We see the Smart City Challenge grant as a
whole, and Sidewalk Labs in particular, as a great
opportunity to integrate technology into our
transportation system, as well as encourage
multimodal transportation by shifting away from
traditional single-occupant vehicles," said Joshua
Lapp, vice-chair of Transit Columbus .
"Columbus is a fast growing mid-sized city
without much of type of transit infrastructure you
see in larger, older cities. In many ways, we as a
city are playing catch-up with transit, while
preparing to accommodate the estimated 1
million additional people that will be added to the
city by 2050," he told TechNewsWorld.
"In order to do that, we need an efficient,
technologically enhanced system that maximizes
opportunities for residents and protects our
environment," Lapp continued. "We believe that
the partnership with Sidewalk Labs and others
will provide those benefits, while enhancing our
public transportation and moving our city away
from traditional single-occupant commuting."
The city will install traffic signals that
communicate in real time based on the flow,
rhythm and demand for street traffic, and it will
measure the connectivity of its transportation
systems against the city's infant mortality rate.
"Infant mortality has a great deal to do with
neighborhood health," Columbus spokesperson
Davis told TechNewsWorld.
"In Linden, for example, where infant mortality is
three times higher than other parts of Columbus,
25 percent of residents don't have a high school
degree or GED. Unemployment is three times as
high as the rest of the county, and resident
vacancies and incarceration are significantly
higher, too," she pointed out.
"We know that reliable consistent transportation
is a key to exiting poverty because it provides
access to healthcare, employment, education and
fresh fruits and vegetables -- which are also keys
to lowering infant mortality," Davis said. "So
what we have planned for Linden will help reduce
infant mortality."
The Columbus plan calls for "deploying
autonomous vehicles, starting with the Linden
region, as part of the first- and last-mile
solutions," she noted. "Residents will be able to
take public transportation, then use autonomous
vehicles to get from the Easton transit station to
their jobs, education or healthcare."
Local Investment
Columbus will receive up to US$40 million from
DoT and $10 million from Paul Allen's Vulcan to
supplement the $90 million that the city already
raised from private partners to put the plan in
place, according to DoT Secretary Foxx.
"The commitment by Columbus to explore new
ways to use technology to reach beyond the tech
savvy and easily accessible is commendable, and
it underscores the reasons why we started this
challenge," he said.
The Transportation Department is working with
government and private sector partners to help
the six other finalists -- including Austin, Texas;
Denver; Kansas City; Pittsburgh; Portland; and
San Francisco -- to advance plans they
submitted since December, when the finalist
challenge was launched, Foxx noted.
The U.S. population is expected to grow by
about 70 million people over the next three
decades, and much of that growth will be in
urban areas across the country, said DoT
spokesperson Jon Romano. The hope is that a
successful plan in a city like Columbus can be
scalable to medium-sized cities that will face
pressures on their own infrastructures and need
to come up with local solutions.
"There is a total data void on street use, public
transit and parking management," said Paul
White, executive director at Transportation
Alternatives.
"We know city streets are not really working for
anyone, but there is a dearth of up-to-date
information about parking turnover rates or on-
time bus performance stats, for example," he told
TechNewsWorld.
Cities all across the country are under pressure
to upgrade their public transit systems as
crumbling infrastructure and increasing traffic
flows threaten to overwhelm major metropolitan
areas, according to Steven Polzin, director of
mobility policy research at the University of
South Florida's Center for Urban Transportation
Research .
As a result, cities are taking steps like
automating fare collection, developing more
sophisticated scheduling data, and gathering
real-time passenger information to make sure
they can match capacity to demand.
"Virtually all agencies across government are
implementing some of all of these features as
quickly as they can," Polzin told TechNewsWorld.
"What remains to be seen is the magnitude of
the impact, and whether they'll be able to shift
the needle in any meaningful way."
Google, recently began negotiating a plan to help
restructure the public transportation system in
Columbus, Ohio, after the city won the Obama
administration's national competition to ease
traffic gridlock issues.
Sidewalk Labs will leverage its cloud-based
transportation data to help Columbus implement
a public bus and parking system that will help
ease traffic congestion and provide greater
access for low-income communities. The plan
calls for eventually incorporating ride-sharing and
cycling, as well as the possible deployment of
autonomous vehicles.
Cloud Data
The project leverages Flow, a collaborative effort
of Sidewalk Labs and seven finalists in the
Department of Transportation's Smart City
Challenge.
"Flow is about using data and analytics to help
cities work with their citizens to increase the
efficiency of road, parking and transit use,
improving access to mobility for all," said Anand
Babu, chief operating officer of Sidewalk Labs.
"Flow will allow cities to understand their
transportation systems in real time and could be
used to improve and plan public transportation,
guide drivers directly to parking, or point
commuters to shared mobility options they can
use when public transportation is not an option."
Columbus is putting together a team to begin
implementing the Smart City plan, said Robin
Davis, a spokesperson for the city.
However, a final plan has not been reached, and
the platform has not yet been put together,
according to a source familiar with the talks.
The Columbus Challenge
U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary
Anthony Foxx last month announced Columbus
had beat out 78 cities to win the Smart City
challenge. The winning proposal calls for
Columbus to create a new rapid transit system
for buses, install street-side mobility kiosks, add
smart lighting to help pedestrian safety, and
improve access to healthcare for underserved
neighborhoods.
"We see the Smart City Challenge grant as a
whole, and Sidewalk Labs in particular, as a great
opportunity to integrate technology into our
transportation system, as well as encourage
multimodal transportation by shifting away from
traditional single-occupant vehicles," said Joshua
Lapp, vice-chair of Transit Columbus .
"Columbus is a fast growing mid-sized city
without much of type of transit infrastructure you
see in larger, older cities. In many ways, we as a
city are playing catch-up with transit, while
preparing to accommodate the estimated 1
million additional people that will be added to the
city by 2050," he told TechNewsWorld.
"In order to do that, we need an efficient,
technologically enhanced system that maximizes
opportunities for residents and protects our
environment," Lapp continued. "We believe that
the partnership with Sidewalk Labs and others
will provide those benefits, while enhancing our
public transportation and moving our city away
from traditional single-occupant commuting."
The city will install traffic signals that
communicate in real time based on the flow,
rhythm and demand for street traffic, and it will
measure the connectivity of its transportation
systems against the city's infant mortality rate.
"Infant mortality has a great deal to do with
neighborhood health," Columbus spokesperson
Davis told TechNewsWorld.
"In Linden, for example, where infant mortality is
three times higher than other parts of Columbus,
25 percent of residents don't have a high school
degree or GED. Unemployment is three times as
high as the rest of the county, and resident
vacancies and incarceration are significantly
higher, too," she pointed out.
"We know that reliable consistent transportation
is a key to exiting poverty because it provides
access to healthcare, employment, education and
fresh fruits and vegetables -- which are also keys
to lowering infant mortality," Davis said. "So
what we have planned for Linden will help reduce
infant mortality."
The Columbus plan calls for "deploying
autonomous vehicles, starting with the Linden
region, as part of the first- and last-mile
solutions," she noted. "Residents will be able to
take public transportation, then use autonomous
vehicles to get from the Easton transit station to
their jobs, education or healthcare."
Local Investment
Columbus will receive up to US$40 million from
DoT and $10 million from Paul Allen's Vulcan to
supplement the $90 million that the city already
raised from private partners to put the plan in
place, according to DoT Secretary Foxx.
"The commitment by Columbus to explore new
ways to use technology to reach beyond the tech
savvy and easily accessible is commendable, and
it underscores the reasons why we started this
challenge," he said.
The Transportation Department is working with
government and private sector partners to help
the six other finalists -- including Austin, Texas;
Denver; Kansas City; Pittsburgh; Portland; and
San Francisco -- to advance plans they
submitted since December, when the finalist
challenge was launched, Foxx noted.
The U.S. population is expected to grow by
about 70 million people over the next three
decades, and much of that growth will be in
urban areas across the country, said DoT
spokesperson Jon Romano. The hope is that a
successful plan in a city like Columbus can be
scalable to medium-sized cities that will face
pressures on their own infrastructures and need
to come up with local solutions.
"There is a total data void on street use, public
transit and parking management," said Paul
White, executive director at Transportation
Alternatives.
"We know city streets are not really working for
anyone, but there is a dearth of up-to-date
information about parking turnover rates or on-
time bus performance stats, for example," he told
TechNewsWorld.
Cities all across the country are under pressure
to upgrade their public transit systems as
crumbling infrastructure and increasing traffic
flows threaten to overwhelm major metropolitan
areas, according to Steven Polzin, director of
mobility policy research at the University of
South Florida's Center for Urban Transportation
Research .
As a result, cities are taking steps like
automating fare collection, developing more
sophisticated scheduling data, and gathering
real-time passenger information to make sure
they can match capacity to demand.
"Virtually all agencies across government are
implementing some of all of these features as
quickly as they can," Polzin told TechNewsWorld.
"What remains to be seen is the magnitude of
the impact, and whether they'll be able to shift
the needle in any meaningful way."
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