Further updates to the Sustainable Mobility Platform Framework

Nigel, our e-correspondent from New Zealand, points out some omissions to the SMP framework I laid out a few days ago such as water-based services (oops!) and suggests that with some tweaks acknowledging some Asian modes the framework can become more robust.

In our back and forth discussion, from the standpoint of the ladder, we are talking modes, but also within it is the other concept of primary, secondary, and tertiary (intra-district) transit at the city/county/metropolitan/regional scales.

Another dimension is from personal mobility to mass transit, and from no power to powered forms of mobility.

Specific services would be categorized like that. E.g., the DC streetcar is a tertiary service within the center city transit network so far, serving a wee bit of H Street NE whereas the now moving forward Purple Line light rail which will be something like 19 miles long with 20+ stations, and connections to 4 legs of Metrorail and all three MARC lines, will be part of the Metropolitan primary transit network, rather than merely being the foundation of the suburban primary network.

Additions to the framework are shown in bold italic.


The Sustainable Mobility Platform at the city/county/metropolitan scale

-- Walking

-- Horizontal-Vertical Connections 
---- public stairways such as the stairway connecting a neighborhood on a hill to the Weehawken waterfront in New Jersey
---- public escalators in Medellin, Colombia ("Medellín slum gets giant outdoor escalator," Telegraph) and Hong Kong
---- public elevators as part of the horizontal/vertical mobility system of "streets and blocks" in various communities, including Monaco, Salvador, Brazil, and Wanganui, New Zealand
---- pedestrian bridges across roads, freeways, railroad tracks, etc.
---- pedestrian exclusive zones (blocks, malls, etc.)
---- pedestrian walkways and networks between buildings either below ground (Pedway in Chicago, PATH in Toronto, the Underground Pedestrian Network in Montreal, or what in London are called "subways" but they haven't organized these connections at the scale of a network) or above ground (skyway network connecting buildings in Minneapolis and St. Paul)
---- Barnes Dance Intersections such as Oxford Circus in London
---- wayfinding systems
---- package pick up points (double listed)
---- funiculars and incline railways including facilitating beach access ("Dana Point's beach elevator open this weekend," Orange County Register)


Oxford Circus Barnes Dance Intersection at Oxford and Regent Streets, Westminster, London

-- Skateboards/Scooters (nonmotor)

-- E-Scooters/Segways/electric wheels/etc.
---- dockless scooters (Bird, LimeBike)

-- Cycling
---- paths and trails
---- bicycle bridges (e.g., over freeways; the High Trestle Trail art bridge in Iowa, etc.)
---- secure bike parking, air pumps, repair stands
---- bike parking networks (e.g., Parkiteer in Melbourne, bike parking at rail stations in the UK, Netherlands, Denmark, etc.)
---- access to trailers
---- tandems
---- cargo bikes
---- e-bikes
---- special populations ("Two men leading an effort to provide bikes to homeless," WLOX-TV)
---- programming to promote biking as transportation/bicycle advocacy
---- programs that assist in buying a bicycle

-- Bicycle sharing
---- community system (dock based)
---- dockless pedal (LimeBike, Mobike, Ofo, etc.)
---- dockless e-bikes (Jump, Lime)
---- cargo bikes (LastenVelo, Freiburg, Germany; Carvelo2go, Switzerland)
---- building/campus (e.g., hotel, office building, university, office complex)
---- special populations ("New bike share program gives One80 Place's homeless a way around the city," WCIV-TV)

-- Two-Wheel Vehicles: Scooters/Motorcycles
---- scooter sharing (Scoot in SF)

-- Delivery services 
---- trailer lending for bicycles (e.g., Ikea Denmark)
---- packages long distance (e.g., UPS, FedEx, etc.)
---- local delivery (e.g. Dolly, robots) including groceries
---- bicycle-based delivery (messengers, food, etc.)
---- package pickup points (Amazon, UPS, etc.)


Merseyrail ticket offices have Amazon package pick up points.

-- Surface Mobility Throughput Measures/Transportation System Management
---- traffic signal optimization
---- Intelligent Transportation System initiatives
---- Congestion Zone schemes
---- Dedicated transitways/transit malls for buses and/or trams/streetcars/light rail
---- Transit prioritization measures (traffic signal priority, etc.)

-- Metropolitan Transit
---- network scale (regional, metropolitan, city; primary, secondary, tertiary)
---- various bus, streetcar, light rail, heavy rail, railroad services
---- water-based services: water taxis (shorter distances), ferries (longer distances)
---- air-based services: gondolas; aerial trams -- e.g. in Medellín, Colombia ("'Social urbanism' experiment breathes new life into Colombia's Medellin," Toronto Globe & Mail; "Medellín's 'social urbanism' a model for city transformation," Mail & Guardian), Portland, Oregon, Roosevelt Island, Queens, New York City, La Paz, Bolivia ("Largest urban cable car soars over 'desperate' commuters of La Paz ," Guardian
---- intra-district (Baltimore Circulator, Circulators, San Diego FRED Shuttle, tourist-oriented streetcar services such as in Memphis or Tampa, Detroit People Mover and Miami Metromover rail-based elevated systems); campus (airports), tertiary network (Tempe Orbit), the Seattle Monorail? ("Station expansions can double Seattle monorail capacity new report says," Seattle Times)
---- fareless square and other free transit services ("No Fares," The Tyee)
---- shuttle services (school, employer, residential)
---- visitor (tourist) transportation services (Visitor Transportation Study: Report on Urban Visitor Transportation Services, Volpe Transportation Center, USDOT)
---- microtransit either private  Chariot, Israeli sheruts) or public (AC Transit FLEX pilot project, "The newest battleground between public transit and Uber, Lyft is an unlikely one," San Jose Mercury News)
---- shared taxi type services at edges of the transit system (taxi collectif in Montreal) or intra-district (Via, UberPool, Lyft Line) either publicly subsidized ("Mass transit gets boost from ridesharing," USA Today; "Uber and Lyft Want to Replace Public Buses," Bloomberg) or not (arguably this is merely a form of what is now being called "microtransit")

-- Transportation Demand Management Programming 
---- Programming of all types

-- Paratransit/medical transportation

-- Taxis/Ride hailing
---- pedicab/bicycle pedicab
---- Ojeks/motorcycle taxis ("Ojek Ride-Sharing in Indonesia: A New Urban Mobility TheProtoCity)
---- Bajai/TukTuks, 3-wheel taxis
---- (traditional) motor vehicle based taxis


Go Jek is an Indonesian system organizing branded ojek services through software and telecommunications systems, comparable to Uber.

-- Car sharing
---- one-way (car2go)
---- two-way (Zipcar, Enterprise, Maven, Commun-auto, a nonprofit service in Montreal, City Share in SF, etc.)
---- inclusion of a variety of vehicles in fleets to accommodate multiple uses (Zipcar)
---- electric car sharing systems (Autolib in Paris; BlueIndy in Indianapolis, etc.)

-- Car pooling

-- Car rental

-- Freight Transportation
---- time-shifting deliveries outside of day time hours
---- moving waste by barge or train [London and NYC move some waste by barge}
---- moving construction materials by barge or train (London moves some construction materials by barge)


Barge on the River Thames carrying piping for the London supersewer project


---- moving materials or items between plants by transit or other means
------ freight tram (VW moves materials between facilities in a dedicated tram running on the local streetcar network in Dresden)
------ pipeline (the Halve Main brewery in Bruges moves beer from the brewery to the bottling plant by pipeline, "First beer pipeline in the world opens in Bruges, Belgium," CNN Money)

Sustainable Mobility Platform at the Regional Scale

-- Regional Transit
---- van pools (longer distance, e.g., vride) (re-categorized)
---- Commuter bus
---- Inter-city bus (Greyhound, Trailways, Megabus, Bolt, etc.)
---- Inter-city rail (regional passenger and/or commuter rail services including all-day services like Long Island Rail Road or commuter specific services such as Virginia Railway Express which does not provide weekend or late night service)
---- Ferries (e.g., Steamboat Authority service to Nantucket, etc.)

-- Pedestrian connections
---- Pedestrian Bridge to San Ysidro Airport in Tijuana across the US-Mexican border

Sustainable Mobility Platform at the Multi-regional and Multi-state scale

---- Inter-city bus (Greyhound, Trailways, Megabus, Bolt, etc.)
---- Inter-city rail (Amtrak, separate long distance rail services in New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, All Aboard Florida)
---- Ferries (e.g., services between Maine and Canada; Vancouver, BC and Washington State, etc.)