“Mobility” has been used to describe everything from shared bikes and scooters to mass transit to walking to the ability of people to simply get around. If someone outside the industry asked, how would you define “mobility”?

That’s the question we posed to our Ask the Experts panel for the February 2022 issue of Parking & Mobility, and the answers we got were quite insightful. A few additional thoughts we loved:

“The range of options any given person may convey themselves from point A to point B at any given time. As Mobility pertains to our industry, we strive to solve for the myriad of individual circumstances which vary based on economic status, geographic location, available time, physical mobility, and weather, among other variables.” – Ben Wesley, CAPP, market president Nashville, Premium Parking.
“Often, I think we mistake mobility for accessibility. The difference between the two concepts is simple: Mobility is how far you can go in a given amount of time (how far you travel to go to work or visit a place of business). Accessibility is how much you can get to in that time (access to different modes of transportation, or parking spaces once you have arrived).” Katherine Beaty, vice president of implementation, TEZ Technology.
“While the generic definition of ‘mobility’ can have a multitude of industry meanings, in my world, it’s primarily providing alternative transportation and environmentally friendly solutions and methods to the general public in an effort to help shift individual (single occupancy) vehicle driving behavior. Also, it’s providing the public with the policies, education, and networks necessary to encourage and promote the adoption of new/alternate modes of travel.” – Scott Bauman, CAPP, manager of parking & mobility services, City of Aurora, CO
“Mobility is everything that happens from A to B. It is the series of intentional choices users make to transport themselves or their goods to a destination. The term mobility allows us to describe an ever-evolving landscape that adds new modes methods daily.” – Casey Jones, CAPP, director, customer success, FLASH Parking.

Read from more our experts in February’s magazine. Interested in joining our panel as an expert? Email Melissa Rysak.

Experts say micro-mobility will emerge as a major form of transportation, especially in cities and on campuses, as we re-open after COVID-19. How do you think the industry could best take advantage of this trend?

That’s the question we posed to our Ask the Experts panel for the September issue of Parking & Mobility, and the answers we got were quite insightful. A few additional thoughts we loved:

“Individually, cities and campuses need to reach out to those that have already utilized forms of micromobility to learn the best uses, possible challenges, and ways to adequately implement their services.” – Mark Lyons, CAPP, parking division manager, City of Sarasota, Fla.
“The time is now to create mobility hubs, car-free zones, wider sidewalk design standards, protected bike lanes, adaptive re-use of on-street parking, and to look at urban design as more transportation-friendly and safer. There is definitely an opportunity for impactful conversation and for micro-mobility industry and urban planners to partner with municipal and community leaders to engage the public in the conversation and ultimately create a safer environment for all users. Engaging the public in a meaningful way will create a sense of community belonging which is so needed during this challenging transition.” – Kathryn Hebert, PhD, director transportation, mobility, and parking, City of Norwalk, Conn.
“COVID-19 will result in speeding up the pace of the transformation of public and private transportation as the need for smaller groups remains a key focus. It is also an opportunity to enhance public and private transportation by catering more to the specific needs of ridership in addressing the first- and last-mile of riders commutes by providing more specifically tailored transportation options.” –Larry J. Cohen, CAPP, executive director, Lancaster Parking Authority, Pa.

Read from more our experts in this month’s magazine. Interested in joining our panel as an expert? Email Kim Fernandez.

Tag Archives: Ask the Experts

Ask the Experts: How Do You Define Mobility?

Ask the Experts: The Future of Micro-mobility