LA Votes for Complete Streets

New bikes and e-trucks, NYC trashes the curb

March 5th was Super Tuesday, and while Vermonters showed a bit of humaneness in their presidential preferences, and San Franciscans voted for more police chases and drug testing, Angeleños had something more interesting on their ballots: Measure HLA.

Dubbed “Healthy Streets for All,” the measure intends to force the city to actually do something it’s been promising for decades: build safer, multimodal streets and sidewalks. Evidently that’s a resonating message to voters; backed by a broad coalition that includes the LA Times, the school district, the business federation, many local unions, NRDC and our friends & partners at Streets for All, the initiative appears to have won by a resounding 63+%.

As for implementation, the measure compels the City of Los Angeles to implement Mobility Plan 2035, a document the city approved 8 years ago but has since only enacted about 5% of. That plan calls for complete streets, bus lanes, bike lanes, wider sidewalks, narrowed roads, improved street crossings and more. While the City has been somewhat better about making a few of those improvements post-pandemic, it’ll really need to kick things into high gear now, or it risks defending against expensive citizen lawsuits (that’s the somewhat tricky enforcement mechanism tied to the measure.)

Despite the stereotypes, the city has a strong backbone of frequent bus service, paired with a growing rail network that now reaches a number of critical destinations. If Los Angeles can actually make more of its boulevards pleasant enough to encourage last-mile connections on foot and bike, we could really be on the cusp of a multi-modal revolution. 🚴🚃💕

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MEET MOBILITY & DELIVERY LEADERS IN 3 WEEKS

Curbivore kicks off in just three weeks, and we’re bringing together some of the brightest minds advancing the curbside revolution. Hear from Metro, Starship, Waymo, Rep. Laura Friedman, Automotus, Faction and even LA’s Deputy Mayor of Infrastructure Randall Winston. Since he oversees the department that now has to implement Mobility Plan 2035, we can’t wait to hear what he has to say.

The festivities begin the evening of March 28th, with an opening reception, followed by a full day on the 29th of speeches, demos, workshops, panels, exhibits, networking, complimentary award-winning street food and so much more.

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HOT INDUSTRY NEWS & GOSSIP

New Rads roll out: Rad Power Bikes just unveiled a handful of updated bike models and new battery tech. Given that Rad’s affordable bike models are some of the country’s top sellers, seeing them update both their cargo models and their battery safety investments could make a real difference for both couriers and every day car-replacers.

And new trucks too: As for larger electric vehicles, the past week saw a slew of new models geared towards getting stuff done and hauling big loads. Kia debuted its first EV work trucks, Ford updated the E-Transit van to improve its range and Rivian teased its smaller, cheaper R2 and R3 SUVs.

Big app updates! Two big delivery players are rolling out new features in the quest to make delivery more convenient than ever putting on pants. Walmart rolled out Express On-Demand Early Morning Delivery (say that 10 times fast,) allowing for hour or faster drop-offs as early as 6 AM. Not to be outdone, Uber Eats just launched optional location tracking, allowing couriers to better find customers when doing a “meet outside” or “meet at door” delivery.

Pure curb news: Passport is shaking up its leadership, including welcoming back its co-founder as its replacement CEO. ITS heavyweight Miovision is gobbling up Traffic Technology Services, its sixth acquisition in less than three years. Modii wins a Sourcewell contract for curb management, joining a few industry peers we shared last week. Populus’ Regina Clewlow shares her latest thoughts on the digital curb in Forbes.

What *is* good gig work? Tune in next Wednesday for a lively discussion on the future of the gig economy, featuring The Rideshare Guy’s Sergio Avedian, CalMatters’ Levi Sumagaysay, Gigs’ Allen Narcisse and The Workers Lab’s Shelly Steward.

Make Frank Sinatra proud! There are many wonderful things about Manhattan, but its waste management system is not one of them. The Big Apple is finally firmly joining the early 20th century, as it rolls out a plan to put commercial trash in bins and dumpsters. That’s right, no more leaky bags of garbage right on the curb! Actually we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves, the city hasn’t yet updated the rules for residential garbage service. In other happy curb news, NYC just opened up applications for its summertime outdoor dining permits. And in incredibly bleak, Overton window shifting news, Gov. Hochul has deployed the National Guard to terrify people that use the MTA. Here are some intimidating photos and here’s a chart depicting that subway system felonies remain near an all-time low.

A few good links: How Amped bucked the ghost kitchen curse. India’s Flipkart plans quick commerce launch. NYC rolls out charging stations for couriers. Geopolitics: China’s Ant Group sells off stake in India’s Zomato. Serve Robotics shares start selling OTC.

P.S. Have you seen all the amazing Curbivore speakers yet?

- Jonah Bliss & The Curbivore Crew