Transportation news for Santa Monica.
The report this story is based on is not yet available on the city’s website. In the meantime, you can read it here. In November, the City Council approved a pilot program to test the effectiveness of AI in enforcing…
The following article first appeared at Streetsblog Los Angeles. A poster on Reddit, misken67, has been sharing some fascinating and informative visualizations of recent Metro rail and BRT ridership data. SBLA shares misken67’s maps, graphs, and insights below, but if…
The following story first appeared at Streetsblog California. California is planning to pursue untested, problematic hydrogen battery trains to reach its zero emission goals for rail travel – not overhead catenary wire, the well-tested, cleaner, most efficient way to power…
Waymo has arrived in Santa Monica. Yes, for several months Waymos have been riding around town gathering data and testing. Sometimes there’s a test driver, other times there’s not. But Waymo is a passenger service, and that capability is soon…
While Santa Monica is as bustling as ever — just ask the 8.7 million visitors the City hosted in 2017 — the downtown parking structures are seeing fewer parkers and hundreds more free spaces each day. We analyzed downtown parking…
(This story first appeared on Streetsblog Los Angeles) Last week Santa Monica’s City Manager Rick Cole tweeted a photo of the city’s newly installed first in-street e-scooter drop zone. In-street parking corrals have been recommended as a solution for dockless device clutter. …
This Sunday, two Santa Monica traditions join forces when the Twilight Concert Series and Santa Monica COAST program a full day of car-free outdoor fun. COAST will open streets in Downtown Santa Monica to all road users for a day…
I see a lot to like about the scooter trend, but that doesn’t mean I don’t see that there are valid complaints and points of contention associated with the rapid rise of dockless e-scooters here. Many of the complaints to…
Via press release: Today, the City of Santa Monica announced the selection of Lime, Bird, Lyft and Jump as the four operators to participate in the City’s Shared Mobility Pilot Program set to kick off on September 17, 2018. This pilot program…
(Reminder: Comments on the City of Santa Monica Scooter Selection Process, Submit your comments via email to kyle.kozar@smgov.net by 2:00 p.m. tomorrow, Friday August 17, with the subject line – Shared Mobility Pilot Program. For more information, click here.) Dear David, A few weeks…
Santa Monica’s unique combination of weather, terrain, existing bicycle infrastructure, and affluent population provide the foundation necessary to test and demonstrate the viability of new mobility services like e-scooters, e-bikes, and other zero emissions options that allow people to get…
City staff from the Santa Monica Planning and Community Development Department released today its recommendations for granting four exclusive shared mobility permits. The somewhat surprising results, if adopted by the Director of Planning and Community Development,* will see a dramatic…
Love them or hate, few people in Santa Monica have not formed some kind of opinion about the dockless shared fleet e-scooter wave (as opposed to the “dock” or “hub” based bike share model), started here with Bird, and now…
Carter Rubin is a Santa Monica resident and serves as an advisory board member of Santa Monica Next. Carter has served as an appointed member on the Santa Monica Housing, Planning and Pier Commissions. Carter earned a B.A. in political…
Anyone that thought the Great Scooter Debate of 2018 was over after the City Council approved a pilot program earlier this year was jolted back to a harsh reality after the SMPD conducted an aggressive “scooter crackdown” last Friday. SMPD…
