Micromobility vs. Macromobility

Micromobility can and should be part of the solution for managing our shared streets, yet we have some very real problems that are not being addressed in a coherent fashion. Micromobility is defined here as 1, 2, 3, and 4-wheeled vehicles that can carry 1-2 people maximum.? Seems simple enough. Let’s take a look at how one major city quantified the current environment.

The NYC DOT took ample time to design and announce their Electric Bicycles and More E-mobility Chart featuring the following categorizations:

• Three distinct classes of e-Bikes;?
• Three distinct classes of mopeds;?
• One group of stand-up & seated e-Scooters they classify as legal; and?
• Several forms deemed illegal to operate in NYC including e-Skateboards, e-Unicycles (longitudinal and latitudinal versions), Segways, and Hoverboards.?

Missing are the stand up e-Scooters capable of 20mph-50mph in private hands that have become popular in the last 18 months. This influx of new vehicles (mostly electric) was flooding the market due to increased demand even before the current spike in gas prices, adding complications to an already oversaturated streetscape.?

The shared e-Scooter sector gets the vast majority of regulatory attention from local governments. One clear problem is that serious accountability measures do not seem to exist in any practical sense for manufacturers selling their 1-4 wheeled devices directly to consumers. It is clear that these early adopters receive little to no training in safety, road rules, or rider etiquette beyond a 1-sheet, some video on social media, and perhaps an admonition to always wear a helmet.??

MACROMOBILITY?!

Smaller anything when it comes to individual transportation options is a tough sell in the US market where macromobility is king. Economy cars only became popular in the first fuel crises of the 1970s due to necessity. Over time, advances in fuel efficiency technologies, relatively stable oil prices, and tax incentives friendly to the production of SUVs of increasing size (plus huge marketing budgets) led to their? becoming the standard on our shared streets.?Clearly macromobility has evolved into a problem.

At the same time, two other forms of transporting goods and people have been added into the mix, without any real form of coherent planning due to the virtually infinite number of stakeholders involved. The first are our aforementioned micromobility platforms and the second is broadly defined as cargo since on-demand delivery of everything means trucks, at least three different sized vans for big items, plus vespa style scooters and e-Bikes for the smaller stuff.

And you wonder why traffic is a mess all the darn time?!?

(Please note: No one was injured in this mechanical failure fire)

Society is complicated!

“Solutions” are often the best compromises that elected officials and transportation officials could negotiate–as opposed to being the right answer in the long term. There must be a concerted effort to bring multiple stakeholders to table, some of whom may need to be none too subtly encouraged because they may wish to remain in the background. So here is one proposal:

CommonLanguage4CommonGround is designed to bring in “new blood” into the discussion, providing opportunities to redefine the perspective of the collective. Phase I of this process is familiar:

• Convene a core group of influential stakeholders in a virtual or better yet, face-to-face gathering to engage in a discussion of how to address the resetting of behaviors on our shared streets;
• LISTEN TO THE STAKEHOLDERS, finding their pressure points, areas of greatest concern, and who they believe needs to be involved in the discussion but was not invited to participate;
• Define the Top 3 Achievable Short-Term Next Steps this core group can undertake;
• Coordinate the efforts of the stakeholders so CL4CG can be launched as a Public Relations campaign involving elected officials, real estate interests, corporate interests, local businesses, and the public at large.?
• The structure must be scalable with a tight timeline.??

It is time for a change in paradigm and CL4CG opens the doors for this Call to Action. C’mon in, the water’s fine!

Paul Mondesire, Marquis de Micromobility