Remembering the First Mile: Our Best Bet Against Backsliding on Environmental Progress

Our recent time off the roads showcased our ability to decrease our negative impact on the planet. Studies show carbon emissions dropped by 17% globally over the past few months. Now the question is, how do we maintain the progress we’ve made?

Many are pushing for sustainable energy, EV, and public transportation expansion as part of economic stimulus packages. An initiative with many upsides, but one that faces a tough battle against low oil prices.

If sustainable practices are to succeed, they need to have the widespread support of the public. Not just in theory—but in practice.

Why We Need to Go All-In on First Mile

Final mile typically gets the spotlight in transportation and logistics discussions, but it’s time to shift our focus to first mile. This is where the biggest hurdle in U.S. public transportation lies: making the commitment to leave home without a car.

And despite being the origin of where all public transportation begins, first mile remains the leg of the journey with the fewest options.

Ride-sharing initially fell short of the high expectations for addressing first mile transportation, but not all hope is lost. Transportation companies are learning to better serve the true culprit of urban congestion: suburban travelers.

Uber has launched programs to provide free UberPool rides to rail stations and is also beginning to include public transit information directly in the app.

Since both Uber and rival Lyft are in the micro-mobility game as well (Lyft is in the scooter game directly, and Uber is partnering with Lime), this makes an end-to-end trip possible for suburban travelers using as little as two apps.

Why is this important? A quick look at the charts below shows just how “suburban” America’s cities are, and why they account for so much traffic.

50% or more of residents in 14 out of 15 of the nation’s largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) self-identify as suburban. (New York, NY misses that mark by only a single percentage point at 49%.)

Even when analyzing responses from just the inner cities of those MSAs, eight out of 15 had around 50% of respondents still identifying as suburban dwellers.

To help visualize the suburban presence in major cities, take the map below based on Trulia data. It shows just how suburban a metropolitan area like Houston, TX can be by categorizing its zip codes by factors like housing density.

Cracking the Code on First Mile for Inner-City-Adjacent Areas

Ride-sharing and transit partnerships are great first-mile solutions for suburban dwellers, but what about those near (5-15 miles), but not in, the heart of the city?

These travelers often opt out of ridesharing or driving to “park and ride” train stations, as it provides little or no time/cost savings over completing the full trip in the vehicle they used to get to the station. But this poses a new problem: parking pain.

Americans waste 1.7 billion gallons of fuel searching for parking annually. This creates more than 15.1 million metric tons of CO2 based on EPA calculation tools and is a leading cause of urban congestion, which costs Americans more than they realize—3.6 billion hours of time and $72.7 billion in economic impact.

Even getting to and utilizing bus travel is known by transit authorities to be inefficient for certain areas. So much in fact, Dallas developed a shuttle system to address this in neighborhoods it deemed to be too “difficult for very short trips, particularly to the recreation center and grocery stores”.

Shared scooters and bikes are appealing alternatives for short-distance travel, but are rarely found outside of urban hotspots. So, are there car-free options when getting to/using a train or bus isn’t efficient, and neither is walking? Yes.

·     Micro-mobility Ownership

Some are addressing this by investing in their own micro-mobile transport that borderlines on “mid-“mobility. This electric cargo bike from Blix can easily load up to 400 lbs. and provide up to 70 miles per charge. It’s touted as a “natural car replacement” and can certainly bridge the gap for those trying to quickly get from their homes to the sprawl of retail and entertainment zones across large cities.

Some cities are permanently adopting slow streets, which only increases the need for personal micro-mobility. Slow streets were first implemented to help residents practice social distancing by opening up the streets to cyclists and pedestrians. Now, they are here to stay, only allowing motor vehicle access to residents, emergency, and delivery vehicles.

·     Micro-mobility Leasing

What about those who can’t afford to make the purchase (Blix retails at $1,500+), or don’t want to commit to ownership and maintenance?

The solution may lie in a leasing model for micro-mobility services. Current subscriptions offer unlimited rides, but not guaranteed access. Providers prevent users from hoarding scooters and bikes in their homes, but what if users paid an extra monthly fee to take a scooter or bike home, then swap it out at any point on their next journey for another?

This reliable, predictable access to micro-mobility could exponentially increase ridership for those living within 5 to 10 miles of an urban hotspot or a train station.

·     Micro-mobility Accommodation

A re-imagining the design of train cars to be more micro-mobility friendly could help make flowing from one mode of transportation to another easier.

While this may not be as helpful in well-connected cities like New York, those with a large footprint and limited public transportation access points (think Bakersfield, Dallas-Fort Worth, Atlanta, etc.) could benefit.

Dedicating one side of train cars for vertical storage of bikes and scooters would take minimal investment. Even if only 1/3 of cars were outfitted as such, it increases multi-mode transport options.

Further, re-writing and/or simply re-emphasizing the rules for flow of traffic on city streets and sidewalks may even allow older micro-mobility solutions that were ahead of their time to re-emerge.

The Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility (PUMA) concept failed in 2009 as it was initially thought to be too slow for streets and too fast for sidewalks. Fast forward to today as the popularity of electric scooters and bikes have reminded vehicle operators to share the road, it might thrive.

Can Sustainable Transportation Take Hold in the U.S.?

Yes, and while first (and final) mile transportation solutions are a key part of the equation, they alone are not enough. We must also adopt new urban transportation policies and re-invent our existing resources.

This is an opportune time to learn from European policies that have been successful in reducing urban congestion. My personal favorite is the elimination of street parking. This would not only reduce reliance on personal vehicles in urban settings, it would also instantly free up valuable space for remaining traffic (deliveries, drop-offs, and pickups) without costly expansion projects.

Many European cities have also applied the concept of “slow streets” to urban areas with what they call limited traffic zones, or LTZs. These zones can have multiple tiers, ranging from streets that ban traffic during certain hours, streets that are traffic-free 24 hours a day, and public plazas that are pedestrian-only at all times.

Last but not least, we must re-invent our parking garages. The Millennium Gateway Innovation Lab is a prime example of how we can shift these valuable spaces away from simply providing parking, to become hubs that connect people with new transportation modes, accommodate EV and AV needs, and create freight and logistics opportunities.

One thing we know for sure is that our current circumstances are calling for new models and new modes of thinking. And consumers are more poised than ever to adopt them.