Meeting was called to order at 7:30
AM
Mobility Task Force Chairman Bud Melton
reminded us that the NCTCOG mobility plan for 2050 is still under
development, and that this committee would be taking a part in that
process. Bud explained that members of the mobility task force had met several
weeks back with transportation director Mike Rogers and staff at City Hall to
discuss how we might cooperate in developing a new Dallas scooter policy.
Bud then
introduced guest Chelsea St. Louis of the city’s DOT staff to continue that
discussion. Chelsea outlined the public review process for new city
transportation policy. This will include input from a Citizens Advisory Group
appointed by the city Council, followed up with surveys of the public and focus
groups in order to gain a user perspective on city transportation options. She
assured us that GDPC would be among the civic and nonprofit organizations
serving on a Policy Advisory Committee. Among the deliverables by the DOT will
be a new set of micro mobility regulations, due in November. They will also submit some amendments to the Thoroughfare Plan.
Responding
to questions from Bud and Mike Grace, Chelsea acknowledged that the department
was not yet able to merge these specific transportation policies into larger questions of
street design, land-use, housing or economic development, all issues long
acknowledged as crucial to Dallas’ future.
We then heard an extensive report from
Towfiq Khan, Assistant Transportation Director on progress towards new
micro mobility (MM) regulations due in November. He explained that the city was
now prepared, “with a year or more of experience under its belt”, to replace
the original “hands off” MM policy with a far more stringent and informed
approach.
“City transportation managers and staff
across the country are all struggling with (scooters and other MM tech)
issues”, said Khan. Dallas is looking closely at solutions being tried in Los
Angeles, Atlanta, Austin and others. Public safety is emerging everywhere as a major
concern ( i.e.: spiking scooter injuries) , as well as enforcement of ROW
regulations and new perspectives on revenue generation. Mr. Khan related the
cities’ deepening understanding of the MM operators’ business models, and in
particular the enormous value of the data that operators are able to collect
from users, pointing out advanced work done in Los Angeles and Santa Monica CA,
accessing operator API data. He shared a new strategy and a set of draft
regulations, saying that city licensing revenues under this new MM plan could
be expected to increase by approximately ten-fold and, that “that’s .....just
the beginning” Towfiq said.
The meeting
concluded at 9:05 AM after a spirited discussion of the enormous potential of
MM technology. “Even the most progressive cities will have a lot of
catching up to do to deal with an urban transportation revolution that's going on right in
front of us” as one member said. Mr. Khan promised to share the full text
of his briefing with us. We will place it on the mobility task force blog for
all members to read at their leisure.
-JEC
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