| Connecting The DOTs
by Kirk Steudle
“We’ve seen some
inroads made by CAV
and new ridesharing
services but there’s a lot
more work to be done”
was the result of a collaboration between
the RTC, City of Las Vegas, AAA, and
Keolis North America that leveraged
existing CAV technologies.
Another example is the Workforce
Mobility Program that the RTC, a local
business, and Lyft collaborated on to
specifically solve a problem in providing
FLM mobility for workers to a North Las
Vegas location not served by transit.
These are just a few of the many
examples from the RTC to solve mobility
gaps in its region. I invite you to take
a closer look at their work.
Similarly, Florida DOT is currently
taking this collaborative approach for
future CAV requirements with its Safe
Mobility for Life Program and Coalition.
Safe Mobility for Life takes a well-defined,
integrated, and holistic approach to
leveraging collaborations to solve mobility
challenges. Stay tuned for more on this in
a future column. Until next time, travel safe.
Kirk Steudle is senior vice president of Econolite
and former director of Michigan DOT. He can be
reached at KSteudle@econolite.com
www.TrafficTechnologyToday.com 077
Providing end-to-end
mobility can be met by
greater connectivity
One of the most inspiring
promises of connected
mobility, next to saving
lives, is bridging mobility gaps and
providing access equality. While public
transit has advanced over the last 200 years,
the concept and strategy remain the same:
move people from one point to another,
leaving the first and last portions of the
journey to the individual – a mobility gap
referred to as the “first-and-last mile” (FLM).
I believe we can change this and
leverage connected mobility to solve the
FLM mobility gap. We’ve seen some inroads
made by CAV and new ridesharing services,
but there’s a lot more work to be done.
As I mentioned in my last column,
collaboration is key. It will take publicprivate
collaboration with an eye for
leveraging technology more strategically.
For the public sector, it starts by being
the facilitators of collaboration. We must
first think in terms of bringing together
local resources and assets – not
transportation-only. We have to think
of FLM challenges and solutions as part
of a larger mobility ecosystem, not as
individual silos. Therefore, we must be
willing to seek input from experts in all
areas of the ecosystem, including
communications/networking, automation,
cybersecurity, construction, etc.
Just as importantly, it also requires
a willingness among private sector
participants, including business
competitors, to take on challenges as a
team. And, together, we must look to apply
technology as a means to solve problems –
not technology looking for a problem.
Fortunately, this approach yielded
successful past results in Michigan. The
Benzie Bus service is a public-private
collaboration that solved an FLM challenge
by providing Benzie County residents
mobility to/from remote business locations.
Today, some of the best examples are
at the Regional Transportation Commission
of Southern Nevada (RTC). In 2018, RTC
received a federal grant for the Las Vegas
Medical District Automated Circular and
Connected Pedestrian Safety Project, or
GoMed, to provide FLM service to and from
Las Vegas’ Medical District for some of the
region’s most vulnerable and underserved
citizens from a mobility standpoint. GoMed
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Left: Pick up and drop off
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Inset: Paul Spiers, PTV Group
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