Can Technology Reduce Curbside Congestion?

Curbs can suffer from tremendous congestion, due to the fact that there are many different parties competing to use the same space. These include everything from delivery vans to buses to personal vehicles. One pioneering company has launched a solution designed to help cities deal with this type of traffic challenge.

• City Tech Collaborative has launched a new solution designed to help cities better manage curbside demand.
• Known as the Curbside Management Solution , it’s intended to help cities allocate and manage curbside space more effectively.
• It combines data on curb demand and economic value with new technology and pricing models.
  

What is curbside congestion?

Curbside congestion is what happens when there are too many vehicles angling for short-term parking spots by a sidewalk. It can lead to double parking that can slow the flow of traffic. This kind of double parking may take place when a delivery van stops to drop off a package. It may also occur when a rideshare vehicle arrives to pick up a passenger.

Driven by trends

One trend fueling congested curbside traffic concerns e-commerce. Consumers are in the throes of a hot and heavy romance with e-commerce, and this has increased the number of delivery vehicles on our streets. This creates situations that cause congestion, and it seems like things are set to get even worse over the next few years. According to a recent report published by the World Economic Forum , the growing appetite for e-commerce delivery will result in 36 percent more delivery vehicles in inner cities by the end of the current decade.

Another trend that has increased curbside congestion is ridesharing. Ridesharing vehicles stop at the curb to allow passengers to board, and this can clog traffic. Ridesharing has taken off, growing in popularity in just a few short years. In a poll conducted in late 2018 by Pew Research Center , 36 percent of Americans said they have used a ridesharing service such as Uber or Lyft. Back in 2016, the number of respondents who said they had used ridesharing was just 15 percent, and one-third had never even heard of this service.

Curbing the chaos

The experts at City Tech Collaborative view our nation’s curbs as vital public assets. The company launched the Curbside Management Solution to help our cities make the most of these assets, leveraging previously unavailable data on curb usage and related economic activity. Using this information, the company is able to model curb demand and assign value to users.

City Tech Collaborative’s Curbside Management Solution includes technology input from Bosch and Here Technologies, as well as data and modeling support from Stantec, Teralytics, SpotHero and Carrier Direct. Under this approach, curbside activity is mapped, and areas that can produce efficiencies are identified. Analytic and pricing models are tapped to ascertain the economic activity of curbs. This information is ultimately used to guide the way cities manage curb use. It can also be used to inform urban design solutions.

“As the macro shifts in the transportation industry are becoming more dynamic, we are coming to realize just how instrumental this fixed asset is when it comes to efficient mobility,” says David Leopold, Director of City Solutions at City Tech Collaborative. “It is vital for cities to have a conversation about the relative value of the curb’s many diverse uses, weighing the individual benefits (i.e. private vehicle parking) versus the shared benefits (i.e. bus stops) and identifying a symbiotic relationship between the two. With open conversations, data-sharing, and a dynamic, forward-looking approach, the curb can rise to meet the growing demands of the community.”

WHY THIS MATTERS

Innovations like e-commerce and ridesharing make life more convenient, but they can cause frustrating traffic slowdowns. Tools such as the Curbside Management Solution could play a huge role in helping us manage this issue in the years ahead.

Read the article at Ride.