Rocky Mountain High Road
Rocky Mountain High Road
Innovation in Aspen, LA eQuads, food halls falter
When we think of curb and street-side innovation in this country, the mind tends to assume it’s happening in the country’s more prominent “urban” environments: Portland, LA, NYC, Boston, Philly…
But from time to time, the town of Aspen, Colorado likes to remind us that progress can happen in a town of seven thousand people (albeit one that also hosts approximately one billion billionaires during select months as well.)
The Rocky Mountain city just launched Aspen Gets Us There — a new initiative to improve transport and parking in the community, as leaders look to boost non-automotive modes in a city already notable for being the only place in the country you’ll see someone dripped out in Fendi on a (free!) public bus.
Aspen’s been an innovator for a while: it was one of the first cities to pilot smart loading zones (with Coord, RIP.) It boasts a sizable bikeshare system, and the region even hosts a cutely named BRT line with 10 minute service, meaning high quality busses zip down a rural highway more frequently than the transit provided to many big city residents.
But the town’s most interesting mobility innovation was arguably over 45 years ago, when it starred in an MIT-developed and ARPA-funded tech project called the Aspen Movie Map.
This early hypermedia project essentially created a proto-Google Maps Street View in the late 1970s, an era when widespread personal computing (not to mention the world wide web) was still a distant dream. Specially equipped vehicles roamed Aspen’s Victorian-era street grid, with the information compiled to Laserdisc in a way that let users virtually roam the streets from a top-down gridded map, while photographing enough angles to let viewers engage the space in a now-familiar 3d-like environment.
Be sure to check out this three minute video of the system in action, including goodies like 3d rendering, a touch screen allowing the user to jump to anywhere in town, Eames-ian “Powers of Ten” style zooming, and much more.
Here’s to small towns dreaming big!
Curbivore Returns - March 28 & 29 in Downtown LA
We’re just six weeks away from Curbivore 2024 — convening the best and brightest minds and operators pushing mobility and delivery forward — March 28 & 29 in Downtown LA’s Arts District.
If you care about delivery, mobility, curb management, local restaurants / retailing, or civic tech — this will be by far the most interesting event you go to all year.
Tickets are just $195. Register now before prices jump again!
HOT INDUSTRY NEWS & GOSSIP
Sweep on, li’l buddy! LA’s Bureau of Street Services is the proud recipient of new eQuads, with the pedal-vans charged with keeping bike lanes safe and operable. Small in size and green in locomotion: sounds like a win-win. We’ll have some of these Fernhay vehicles on hand at Curbivore for anyone eager to check them out in person!
Speaking of pedaling: NYC DOT just held its first E-Bike Industry Day, where 100+ gathered to stand up an e-bike trade-in program, launch a curbside charging pilot and test ride new micromobility vehicles.
Speaking of NYC: The MTA has paused a number of much-needed transportation and infrastructure capital projects, as the region’s congestion pricing cordon program lies in legal limbo. With a growing number of lawsuit claimants challenging the program, the agency can’t reliably bond against the expected tolls to pay for the Second Avenue Subway, new elevators, bridge replacement and the like. Yet another strike against our adversarial system of governance…
Food hall fumble: Rethink your redevelopment plans, apparently slapping the name “Food Hall” on any dreary basement food court isn’t gonna cut it any more! Essex Crossing’s Market Line, a 150,000 square foot food hall that was part of a 2019-era NYC LES mega-development, is set to close this April. While the NYT once called the encompassing project an “Anti-Hudson Yards,” we wonder if that augers well or poorly for the latter neighborhood’s own mall-cum-eatery.
One weird trick to restoring transit ridership: LA Metro just released its 2023 ridership numbers, showing another year of growth, with the agency up 11.6% over the year prior. With many other larger agencies struggling to rebuild ridership as quickly, Metro offers a few practical tips: restore service, keep fares down, build bus lanes, and open new capital projects. Sounds easy!
A few good links: Was your Valentine’s date delayed? Maybe it was because gig workers struck for higher wages and improved working conditions. Jawnt releases a new universal employee transit and parking benefit pass. LA City Council votes to expand street vending zones. Road to Autonomy has more details on the hush-hush autonomous Apple Car; evidently the fruit co. is using an old Chrysler facility in the outskirts of Phoenix.
P.S. Got your Curbivore ticket yet?
- Jonah Bliss & The Curbivore Crew