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Greetings!
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Paul Mackie, director of communications,
Mobility Lab
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It's been a year since Mobility Lab really ramped up our efforts to get the word out about mobility management.
This is clearly a topic people care deeply about, want more information about, and are rapidly joining our Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Slideshare networks to join in the conversation.
I couldn't be enjoying working in this space any more. For a former newspaper journalist and editor, it's thrilling to see how many connections mobility management makes to our daily lives. Just in this issue of the Express alone, we feature human rights, technology, healthcare, and event planning.
Over the next year, Mobility Lab will primarily focus on building the business case for moving people instead of cars, quality-of-life issues surrounding our transportation choices, and our in-house research on the many benefits other forms of transportation have over driving alone.
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Mobility Highlights From Around the Web
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How Do Bicyclists and Pedestrians Get Equal Rights in Car-centric America?
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Micah Denton,
civil-engineering student
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Non-motorized road users have a theoretically equal legal and moral right to public roads alongside cars.
But in reality, most laws are designed specifically for certain groups of road users. Oftentimes these laws hew closely to broader public attitudes towards transportation.
What do you think? Is fighting for bicyclist and pedestrian rights a completely lost cause in auto-centric America? What are some possible solutions forward?
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Connecting Data to Our Health Receives Boost
at Recent Code-a-Thon
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Paul Goddin,
urban planner and Mobility Lab consultant
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Mobility Lab's Director Tom Fairchild served as a guest judge in Kaiser Permanente's recent Code-a-Thon, a competition in which software developers from across the country traveled to the company's state-of-the-art Center for Total Health in Washington D.C.
The possibilities for innovative linkages between health and transportation are enormous and will hopefully benefit consumers in the near future, and many developers at the Code-a-Thon seemed to be moving in that direction.
The Code-a-Thon, as well as USDOT's Data Palooza event, come on the heels of President Obama's executive order opening federal government data that was previously inaccessible to the private sector. The purpose of Obama's executive order is similar to Kaiser Permanente's open-data mission: to spur private-sector innovations in improving healthcare in our country.
Read the full story here.  
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Comparing Driving to Transit in the Next Version of Google Maps
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Google is beginning to unveil its new version of Google Maps. The functionality for directions will let you compare driving to taking transit.
I tried it out by asking for directions in
Washington D.C. from Nationals Park to Reagan National Airport.
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Michael Schade, photographer and tech blogger, Mobility Lab
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It's great that Google Maps will now let people know what their transit options are even if they're just looking for driving directions. The new Google Maps has many other features, but to try it out before its official debut you have to be invited. You can "request an invite" here.
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Active Transportation Information Needed at Event-Planning Websites
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I was recently organizing an event in downtown Austin, Texas, and I started noticing that many event-planner registration webpages neglect to feature links to trip planners.
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Jessica Tunon, economics blogger, Mobility Lab
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How awesome would it be to have apps or links built right into the registration pages? And they could have different ones depending on where the events are held. For example, if an event is held in Austin, the site would have direct links to Dadnab, CapitalMetro, Commute Solutions, RideScout, RideJoy, Rocket Electrics, Taxi-Cabs, Pedi-Cabs, ZipCar, Car2Go, and others.
I encourage you to please contact event organizers and event-planning websites to encourage them to add "active transportation" information online for their next events.
Read the full story here and take action.
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Mobility Lab's Partner Spotlight
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 Local government can set the tone for the extent to which public transportation is embraced, and it's no wonder the roads are unclogged and buses, trains, bikeshare, and sidewalks are bustling in Arlington County, Virginia.
Part of that is because of the county's Commuter Services online presence at CommuterPage.com. It is an essential and clear jumping-off point for anyone wishing to explore not just Arlington, but the entire D.C. region.
And transportation marketers don't have to live in D.C. to benefit from CommuterPage.com. They can and should replicate the site for their own locations.
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The county's campaign to "be a PAL" (predictable, alert, lawful) is an example of its marketing and education efforts.
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The site makes it easier for users to navigate the region with running feeds of all the latest transportation headlines (including MobilityLab.org's articles), event information, links to all the region's transportation options, Spanish translations, special educational campaigns, and maps. One doesn't have to simply be interested in transportation to enjoy the site.
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Please Send Us Your Feedback
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We hope Mobility Lab Express, our events, and the research and case studies at our website will be go-to resources for you. In fact, we invite you to share your stories of how mobility improvements have been made in your communities. We'll publish your feedback, and together we'll strengthen the conversation on mobility for all!
Simply respond to this email or click here
with any thoughts or suggestions.
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Please feel free to share this newsletter with those who may be interested.
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