As a former educator, I hold learning in the highest regard. This newsletter is themed around this very idea - that continuous learning and sharing of knowledge are practices to prioritize, both professionally and personally. The opportunities to learn are endless. “Be willing to share and be willing to absorb” is what I tell my kids (and myself) all the time!

Senior Associate Karla Peralta shares her experiences with transportation in Mexico City and what the United States might learn to improve our mobility systems and networks. This is the first of a three-part series. Partner Karina Ricks sat down with Justine Johnson, the Chief Mobility Officer of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, prior to a landmark conference on the future of mobility. Senior Associate Sarah Saltz and the residents of Ossining, NY teach the critical benefit of new mobility options. Following a phenomenal webinar on population displacement associated with climate change, we recap the panelists’ insights and what is being done to address these challenges. Lastly, Senior Principal Camron Bridgford reflects on the benefits of cohorts and collaboratives that learn from each other and solve problems together.

Be sure to complete our reader poll to help make this newsletter more valuable for you. If you want to teach us something, please reach out! See you all in November!

Aprovechando el Transporte Informal para Mejorar los Sistemas de Transporte

By Karla Peralta

While transportation systems in the United States and Latin America face different foundational challenges — there are also many parallels — both regions have valuable lessons to share with each other. In this three-part series of Lessons from Latin America in Transportation, we’ll explore key themes that highlight the potential for learning and collaboration across borders, focusing on how the United States can draw inspiration from Latin America’s transportation solutions. In celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month, the article is provided in the author’s native language. The English translation is available here.

Durante mis años universitarios en el Área Metropolitana de la Ciudad de México, dependía del transporte informal a diario. ¿Por qué? Era simplemente la forma más fácil de desplazarme. Mis opciones incluían autobuses, peseros y combis, ninguno de los cuales formaba parte del sistema de transporte formal. Estos modos informales me ayudaron a transportarme por la vasta red de la ciudad, pero la experiencia no era perfecta. A menudo no sabía cuándo pasaría el transporte, los vehículos no eran accesibles para todos los usuarios y los precios eran inconsistentes. A pesar de estos problemas, el transporte informal cubría vacíos cruciales, aunque el sistema tenía mucho espacio para mejorar.

El transporte informal se refiere a los sistemas de transporte que operan fuera de las regulaciones gubernamentales y los marcos estructurados. Estas redes existen principalmente para satisfacer la demanda que los sistemas formales no logran abordar, especialmente en áreas desatendidas. En la Ciudad de México, donde el 74.1% de todos los viajes en transporte público se realizan en colectivos, el transporte informal juega un papel vital en la movilidad urbana.

Muchos de estos sistemas surgieron como respuesta a las deficiencias del transporte formal: largos tiempos de espera, rutas inconvenientes o tarifas inaccesibles. Impulsados por la competencia, los sistemas informales son altamente adaptables a las demandas cambiantes de los pasajeros. Sin embargo, esta flexibilidad tiene desventajas, como la congestión en rutas de alta demanda, donde los conductores compiten por los pasajeros, lo que empeora los problemas de tráfico en ciudades como la Ciudad de México.

Una lección clave del transporte informal es su capacidad para adaptarse a las necesidades de la comunidad. A diferencia de los sistemas de rutas fijas, estas redes pueden responder rápidamente a la demanda de los pasajeros, las ineficiencias de las rutas o las brechas de infraestructura.

En Estados Unidos, aunque el transporte informal no es tan extendido, aún existen zonas con desiertos de transporte, y los servicios bajo demanda son cada vez más comunes. Sin embargo, ¿están las agencias de transporte conscientes de las necesidades de los usuarios? ¿Entienden los usuarios los servicios disponibles? Frecuentemente, los servicios dentro de las agencias están aislados, lo que crea barreras innecesarias para la entrega eficiente del servicio. Al centrar las necesidades del usuario, aprovechar los datos colaborativos y mapear las rutas clave, las agencias de transporte podrían alinear mejor los servicios con las necesidades reales de los usuarios.

Por ejemplo, en Bolivia, la app Trufi integra autobuses, microbuses y taxis informales, permitiendo a los usuarios reportar rutas faltantes y contribuir con datos. De manera similar, el Mapatón de la Ciudad de México utilizó datos de origen colaborativo para mapear rutas informales, generando información valiosa para la planificación urbana.

Si bien Estados Unidos no necesita formalizar estos sistemas, hay una clara oportunidad para mejorar los servicios existentes en áreas con escaso acceso al transporte, haciendo que respondan mejor a las necesidades de los usuarios.

En muchos casos, tratamos de resolver problemas complejos de transporte con grandes soluciones costosas. Aunque estas tienen su lugar, el panorama del transporte en Estados Unidos ya ofrece numerosos servicios adaptados a diferentes usuarios. Sin embargo, persisten dos problemas principales: 1) estos servicios a menudo están aislados, carecen de integración y 2) no llegan a todos los usuarios de manera efectiva.

Para hacer el transporte más adaptable y eficiente, la integración de datos y servicios es esencial. No es una tarea sencilla, pero es crucial. Además, la comunicación con los usuarios debe mejorar: muchas personas no conocen todas las opciones de transporte disponibles.

¿Qué pasaría si las ciudades pusieran a los usuarios en el centro de la planificación del transporte, aprovechando sus conocimientos para mapear patrones reales de desplazamiento? Este enfoque podría fomentar sistemas más inclusivos y receptivos, mejorando la equidad y la eficiencia del transporte en áreas desatendidas.

Stay tuned for Part 2: Designing Transportation Systems with Gender in Mind - Latin America has been making strides in addressing gender-specific transportation needs, creating networks to ensure mobility systems cater to all users. In this article, we’ll look at how U.S. cities can incorporate gender-responsive planning into their transit systems by drawing on Latin American initiatives. We’ll explore how gathering and applying gender-disaggregated data can lead to more inclusive systems and highlight Latin America’s leadership in this area.

Project MOVER Gets MOVING

By Team Cityfi

Project MOVER e-bikeshare officially launched last week in the Village of Ossining, NY. This was a big day for Cityfi’s own Sarah Saltz and everyone on the Project MOVER team. News 12 Hudson Valley’s report on the launch really captures the value and importance of this mobility enhancement to the community.

Project MOVER aims to make electric bikes accessible to every Ossining resident and visitor, offering a practical mobility solution for those who prefer not to drive, find driving too costly, or simply want a quick and enjoyable way to get around the Village. Many underserved and low-income residents in Ossining cite limited access to direct and frequent transit as a major barrier to reaching essential services and economic opportunities. Additionally, the Village’s topography further complicates efforts to navigate without a car, making transportation even more challenging.

As project manager, Sarah convened project partners, aligned shared goals, priorities, and actions, and MOVEd the project forward. In doing so, the team supported greater flexibility in how people get to school on time, home from after-school opportunities, to and from essential jobs, or even just get out and have fun.

Are We Ready for Climate-Related Displacement?

By Chrissy Anecito

Yesterday, the Cityfi team launched our webinar series - Preparing Cities and Communities for Climate-Related Displacement - with our first installment, Navigating Population Change from Climate Displacement. Partner Sahar Shirazi moderated an excellent conversation with our deeply experienced panelists Dave Reid (Director of the County of Santa Cruz’s Office of Response, Recovery and Resilience) and Dr. Galen Treuer (Manager of the Climate Technology and Economic Innovation Office for Miami-Dade County). Our panelists shared their experience navigating multiple federally declared disasters, and gave their perspective on how communities can engage and prepare for population fluctuations due to extreme climate events.

The discussion touched on many nuanced challenges, including how local and regional leaders can begin to partner, plan, and prepare for the impacts of climate-related displacement. From planning programs to housing policy updates to transportation adaptation and workforce development - communities have many interconnected and interrelated challenges they must address in response to these population changes.

Thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to this vital conversation. Together, we can continue to work towards understanding and addressing the complex realities of climate displacement. Reach out to join our conversation and learn more about the needs and opportunities communities should be examining now, as they consider the impacts of climate displacement. In case you missed the live webinar, you can watch or just listen to a recorded version using the password: 1XCXtM*r

Please stay tuned for more information on our next webinar in the series, Ensuring Equitable Services in the Face of Climate Migration, coming in December!

MetroLab 2024 Annual Summit and a Reflection on the Cohort Model

By Camron Bridgford

Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and other key federal funding sources, cities in recent years have been given a (perhaps) once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make major investments in their infrastructure systems - from roads and bridges, to public transit, to broadband and resilience efforts. These billions of dollars of federal investment have also provided a distinct opportunity for cities to go after different funding streams as part of a collective, a grant strategy that can create a more competitive proposal by offering peer learning, better use of local government resources, and providing a comprehensive blueprint of lessons learned to other cities seeking to make similar improvements in their own communities.

This concept of the “cohort” was top of mind for me as part of the Metrolab Annual Summit 2024, where I sat on a panel with Chris Shelley, Smart Mobility Coordinator, City of Philadelphia; Michael Schnuerle, Director of Open Source Operations, Open Mobility Foundation; and Tom Schenk, Managing Director, KPMG, to discuss the Open Mobility Foundation’s (OMF) SMART Curb Collaborative (the Collaborative) and its impact on pilot solutions for curbside digital infrastructure. The Collaborative is a group of ten cities all awarded federal USDOT SMART grant funds to pilot dynamic curbside management technology, such as through efforts to map and display curb regulations, and using cameras and sensors to analyze how the curb is actually being used.

Cityfi is working with OMF to manage the Collaborative, including engaging the cities in ongoing peer learning exchange, sharing of resources, and problem solving exercises to help them best design, implement and evaluate their pilots. In the future and at the end of these pilots and the Collaborative, the hope is that lessons learned from these projects can be used and shared to institute longer-term programs and organizational changes around how these (and other) cities manage their curb through digital infrastructure.

Cityfi has a long history of managing and/or providing advisory and technical assistance to cohorts of cities looking at different challenges and use cases in their cities, from autonomous vehicles, to digital infrastructure, to curbside management, to better equipping city leadership to create more resilient budgets. Through the OMF Collaborative and all our past cohort experiences, we’ve learned many tried and tested approaches to working with a collective group of cities, such as:

Cities deeply appreciate forums to talk with one another about their challenges and approaches to pilot and program design.
Sharing resources and tools on topics such as contracting, data sharing, community engagement and procurement saves significant local government time and limited staff capacity.
It always feels better to “fail” or “ask dumb questions” when collectively facing a challenge or question together. The true essence of piloting - which entails that failure or the need to pivot will sometimes happen - is reinforced and made more comfortable by the cohort method.
The impact of pilot projects can be multiplied drastically when a use case, or similar use cases, are tested in multiple markets and communities. For successful pilots emerging from cohort models, this means the potential to not only be scalable in one city, but replicable in others.

Through various roadmaps and guides, Cityfi has documented many lessons learned about the process and outcomes of pilots conducted through cohort models, including the successes but also the challenges that are still being figured out. As we move into 2025, Cityfi will continue to reflect on its “cohort best practices” to continue to innovate in this space, shake the model up where there are opportunities for improvement, and determine new arenas of collective impact in need of action through cities working together. Have an idea for a cohort you think we can help bring together? Let us know!

Where in the World is Cityfi?

Check out where Cityfi will be in the upcoming weeks. We may be speaking at conferences, leading workshops, hosting events, and/or actively engaging in collaborative learning within the community. We would love to see you.

Michigan Office of Future Mobility & Electrification Mobility Conference - Detroit, MI - October 24

We are super excited to be attending the inaugural Michigan Office of Future Mobility & Electrification's Mobility Conference later this month in Detroit! This groundbreaking event will explore the transformative impact of mobility innovation across land, air, and sea on global communities. Both public and private sector leaders transforming Michigan mobility will be attending and speaking, so this is going to be an event you will not want to miss - even for folks who live beyond the friendly confines of the State of Michigan. Come say hello to Partner Karina Ricks, Principal Kyle Ragan, and Senior Associate Chrissy Anecito who will all be attending. If interested, let us know if you would like a discount code to attend!

CoMotion LA 2024 - Los Angeles, CA - November 13-14

Flipping the Script: Engineering Openings for Purpose-Driven Innovation - Wednesday, November 13th (3:15 - 4:15 PM)

Partner Karina Ricks will be moderating this panel discussion centered around the 2026 World Cup games. The host cities and their transit agencies must move millions of people in a safe, efficient, and environmentally sustainable manner within dense urban environments. While each city is unique, the challenges and needs are often shared - the need to improve customer communication, adapt existing infrastructure to accelerate public mobility, modernize connectivity, and enhance safety. Similarly, diverse departments and agencies might think they have little in common but also face similar challenges that smart transportation technologies might offer collective solutions.

Hear from leaders leveraging "reverse-pitch" programs to uncover the critical and often shared needs among public agencies and facilitate engagement with the private sector around viable solutions that can be implemented across diverse cities or agencies.

Micromobility America - Costa Mesa, CA - November 14-15

Disrupting the Delivery Van: How Micromobility Can Clean Up the Dirty Last Mile - Thursday, November 14th (2:46 - 3:16 PM)

Come see Partner Karina Ricks speak on this last-mile delivery panel presenting perspectives from key stakeholders in the logistics space working to operationalize micromobility vehicles for urban goods delivery in North America. Attendees will learn about how current operators and supportive OEMs are adapting to the real-world challenges of deliveries approaching scale, optimizing for performance, cost, and safety, and working with both the private and public sectors.

Conference Partnerships

We’re happy to be partnering with CoMotion LA! 🎉

The future of transportation is multimodal. Innovation is no longer in one motor, wheel, or vehicle. Across the world, cities are shifting to create new sustainable modes of transit, micromobility, mobility technologies and alternatives to the automobile.

Attend the world's leading mobility conference, CoMotion LA on Nov. 13-14, exploring the multimodal, decarbonized mobility revolution and don’t miss the OMF Summit on Nov. 12, looking at advancements in mobility-focused data and digital tools like the Mobility Data Specification and Curb Data Specification.

Join us in the heart of downtown LA as we bring together a global community of public and private sector leaders, innovative companies, speakers, and mobility stars. Be part of a three-day conference with stellar programming, engaging panels, workshops, demos, networking, energizing talks — and after-hours gatherings.

🎟️ Learn more and register today: www.comotionla.com. Use promo code ‘Cityfi’ at checkout to receive a 25% discount on your ticket purchase!