Metro Nashville Launches Smart Zone Pilot To Better Manage Curb Space in Downtown

In partnership with curb management platform, Coord, Metro Nashville is piloting an innovative Smart Zone program to streamline curbside loading, reduce congestion, and support local economic activity.

Nashville, TN, February 1, 2021 – Metro Nashville, in partnership with Coord, a leading curb management company, today launched its first-ever Smart Zone program to better manage the city’s curbs. This follows Nashville’s selection by Coord as one of four U.S. cities to participate in the company’s inaugural Digital Curb Challenge to undertake a brand new curb management program.

The demand for curb space for commercial on-demand delivery, e-commerce, and freight continues to grow in cities. Smart Zones, powered by Coord’s technology, enable commercial drivers to use their mobile devices they already use every day to locate, hold, book, and pay for time at nearby, available loading zones. As a result, Smart Zones promote the economic vitality of commercial areas by making it easier for businesses to receive supplies and fulfill customer requests for deliveries, improving the experience for people who visit the area. While offering a more streamlined experience for drivers, Smart Zones can improve mobility for everyone visiting the downtown neighborhood by managing safety and congestion challenges, such as double-parking and blocked pedestrian access.

Known for its vibrant music and entertainment industry, Nashville will use the Smart Zones to provide enhanced efficiency for commercial deliveries that serve businesses in the central business district that cater to locals and tourists alike. The pilot program is part of Metro Nashville’s Transportation Plan to provide a holistic multimodal system that better connects neighborhoods, residents, and businesses to places they need and want to go safely.

Nashville Mayor John Cooper said, “I’m pleased Nashville has been selected for a Coord pilot to demonstrate the benefits of digital curbside management as our downtown conditions make for a great fit for this program. It’s also a strong complement to the Metro Nashville Transportation Plan and our Vision Zero effort to significantly increase safety on our roads. Our musicians, performers and hospitality providers need to be able to load in and out safely. Downtown employees and residents must be able to travel smoothly and safely. This is another step in our effort to make transportation safer and easier in Nashville.”

“Public and private partners are currently working together to improve the city’s real and perceived mobility challenges, some of which relate to traffic into, around, or through downtown. With commercial deliveries being a necessary component of the neighborhood that generates 25 percent of Davidson County’s sales tax revenue, we’re optimistic that Smart Zones will make a positive, measurable impact on the downtown experience for businesses, employees, residents and visitors alike,” said Tom Turner, President and CEO of the Nashville Downtown Partnership.

Metro Nashville has deployed eight Smart Zones located in downtown Nashville:

• 2nd Ave between Broadway and Commerce (NE side)
• Church St between 4th Ave and Printer’s Alley (SE side)
• Church St between 3rd Ave and Printer’s Alley (SE side)
• Union St between 2nd Ave and 3rd Ave (S side)
• Union St between 4th Ave and Printer’s Alley (S side)
• Union St between Rep. John Lewis Way and Arcade Alley (S side)
• Rep. John Lewis Way between Union and north of the Arcade (SW side)
• Rep. John Lewis Way between Church and south of the Arcade (SW side)

Coord’s Smart Zones will also provide Metro Nashville with information that is essential in empowering the city to make data-driven operational changes. For example, program data can be used to understand when and where loading space is most needed and to help manage demand for it through pricing and time limits. Because Smart Zone availability, rules and prices are digitally communicated to drivers, Coord’s platform allows a city to make rules adjustments for zones in response to policy changes, special events or emergencies without the hassle and expense of modifying signage on the street.

“With restaurants, music and culture, there’s no place in America quite like Downtown Nashville. As the world is discovering what locals have long known, Metro Nashville is putting forth a variety of mobility initiatives to ensure its vibrant downtown is safe, pleasant and easy to access for residents, businesses, and visitors alike,” said Dawn Miller, Coord’s VP of Policy and Partnerships. “Smart Zones and curb management are an important piece of Nashville’s investment in its transportation future. They enable the downtown to optimize curbs to support increasing demand from a variety of users. We are delighted to launch this pilot program and look forward to sharing best practices developed in Nashville with other cities across North America.”

Coord launched their second annual Digital Curb Challenge last month. Applications can be submitted at coord.com/digital-curb-challenge and are open until February 15, 2021.

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About Metro Nashville

Metro Nashville, with a population of over 692,000 includes one of the most visited downtowns in America spotlighting a vibrant business, travel and tourism and music industry. With more than 180 recording studios, and 5,000 working musicians, Nashville is clearly “Music City.” Music is the reason that many people come to Nashville, but its two major sports teams, extensive park system, and endless arts and cultural opportunities offer people plenty of reasons to stay; over 16 million out of town visitors came to Nashville in 2019.

About Nashville Downtown Partnership

The Nashville Downtown Partnership is a private sector nonprofit corporation whose core purpose is "to make Downtown Nashville the compelling urban center in the Southeast in which to LIVE, WORK, PLAY and INVEST." Organized in 1994, the Partnership has transitioned into a downtown leadership organization that focuses on business recruitment and retention, residential and retail development, public space management, access and transportation, communications and marketing.

About Coord

Coord is transforming city streets, starting with the curb. Coord is the only comprehensive curb management platform, empowering cities with technology to digitally operate and price the curb at scale, creating more efficient, safe and equitable streets. Recognized by CNBC Upstart 100 and Fast Company’s Innovation by Design, Coord partners include cities like Seattle, Boston, Pittsburgh, Omaha, Nashville, Aspen, Boulder and West Palm Beach. Coord is based in New York City and backed by Alphabet's Sidewalk Labs, Alliance Ventures, Trucks, Urban us and DB Digital Ventures. For more information, visit coord.com.

Contact: Hunter Whitney, hunter.whitney@berlinrosen.com

Leading Curb Management Company, Coord, Launches Second Annual Digital Curb Challenge  

Up to three cities or other curb managers across North America will partner with Coord to undertake a free, curb space management pilot as they look to recover and rebuild from the pandemic

NEW YORK— January 12, 2021— Coord, the industry-leading curb management company, today announced the launch of its second annual Digital Curb Challenge: the Bounce Back Better Edition. Starting today, cities and other curb managers, such as universities, airports, private developments, health systems and conference centers, across North America can apply to partner with Coord to undertake a free curb space management pilot program to better manage loading in their cities. Applications can be submitted at coord.com/digital-curb-challenge and are open until February 15, 2021. 

Following an unprecedented year, cities and businesses have shown their resilience and creativity, finding new mobility solutions to challenges brought on by the pandemic -- from creating more space for delivery and pickup activity to creating new safe spaces for walking, biking, and outdoor recreation and commerce. This diversification of curbside activity comes as delivery activity skyrockets, creating a need to ensure goods loading can still occur safely and efficiently. The Digital Curb Challenge 2021 launches in this unique context, seeking to enable cities and other curb managers to enlist new strategies and technologies that not only help them to recover today, but that also provide a foundation for success for years to come.

With Smart Zones, Coord puts the city at the forefront of curb management programs and empowers them with the tools needed to provide delivery and service vehicle drivers with the information and incentives to load in locations where it is safe and permitted. Today, Smart Zones allow commercial drivers to use a mobile app to see real-time Smart Zone locations and availability. When they’re nearing their destinations, drivers can hold a Smart Zone, paying for space in-app when they arrive. This provides drivers with advanced curb intelligence they can use to navigate directly to available space, reducing illegal parking and circling. Smart Zones improve the coordination, safety and convenience of loading in cities while offering a more streamlined experience for drivers, reducing the incidence of safety and congestion hazards and parking citations.

“During this pandemic, cities have been facing one of their biggest challenges in recent history.  As response work continues, today cities are both assessing whether and how to make pandemic response programs permanent and looking for new, innovative mobility programs that can move the needle even when state and local revenues are projected to decline a combined $467 billion across 2020 to 2022,” said Dawn Miller Vice President of Policy & Partnerships at Coord. “Smart Zones to better coordinate commercial loading are very inexpensive to implement, but can improve safety and access for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers to local businesses. Because fleets pay to use Smart Zones, they actually generate new avenues for revenue along with mobility benefits. We have already seen successes in cities like Omaha, NE and Aspen, CO following our inaugural Digital Curb Challenge, and we look forward to partnering with new cities as they look to bounce back better.”

Cities or organizations selected for the Digital Curb Challenge will have free access to Coord’s full suite of curb management tools for the duration of the partnership and the opportunity to work closely with Coord experts to develop an effective, scalable pilot program to be deployed in 2021.

In the first Digital Curb Challenge, Coord partnered with Aspen, Nashville, Omaha and West Palm Beach to design and deploy Smart Zone programs to better manage commercial loading in their cities. More than thirty fleets, including a mix of local and regional businesses and national brands such as US Foods, FedEx, Frito Lay, Sysco and UNFI, are already using Smart Zones in these cities. This year, Coord is looking for cities to take Smart Zones to the next level by exploring one or several of these features:

• Variable pricing to use different pricing for different times of day or different Smart Zones. This can help manage demand and improve availability for drivers, shifting more loading activity to times when it works well for the neighborhood (e.g., early mornings or overnight) or across more zones.
• Exploring greater automation, booking drivers automatically into the best available Smart Zone near their destinations.
• Deploying Smart Zones in public spaces beyond the curb, such as alleyways.
• Exploring Smart Zones for recurring or predictable uses of public space, such as charter buses, intercity buses, or mobile vending.
• Applying Smart Zones in a unique neighborhood, downtown or other commercial setting.
• New ideas from cities to address unique and pressing local challenges

“We were very excited when Aspen was chosen to participate in Coord’s first Digital Curb Challenge in 2020. We went live in November of 2020, and I am even more excited now that we are in full swing with the pilot,” said Mitch Osur, Director of Parking and Downtown Service in the City of Aspen. “Working with Coord has been fantastic. Not only are they easy to work with, but the amount of knowledge we have learned from each other has far exceeded my expectations. The data we have collected has been enlightening. A few of the data points are what we expected, but a lot of data is different than what we anticipated. I can see Aspen making a variety of changes based on the data we’ve collected during this pilot, which will make our loading zones work more efficiently and provide a safer environment for Aspen. I look forward to what the future will look like in managing our curb space in Aspen.”

“Nashville partnered with Coord to pilot Smart Zones to increase compliance with loading regulations, improve traffic flow and safety, collect quality data, and ultimately capture the true cost of Metro-provided services and the value of public space,” said Derek Hagerty, Transportation Engineer at Metropolitan Nashville Public Works. "The Coord team has worked hand in hand with us every step of the way - from developing our fee ordinance to designing program details and doing outreach. Even in these challenging times, we're ready to launch on schedule and can't wait to see Smart Zones in Nashville."

"At the City of Omaha's Parking and Mobility Division we aim to provide a positive experience for downtown visitors by actively managing our curb space,” said Ken Smith, Parking and Mobility Manager at the City of Omaha. "The Digital Curb Challenge was a great framework for developing best practices in collaboration with the other pilot cities and Coord. We are proud to have been the first Smart Zone city and have extended our partnership so we can continue gaining new insights and collecting data to inform our work."

“West Palm Beach is committed to using data and technology to make our streets safer and improve the quality of life for residents and visitors in our city,” said Uyen Dang, City of West Palm Beach City Traffic Engineer. “Deploying Smart Zones is the key step to ensure flexible curb usage while promoting the City's mobility goals. The Coord team went above and beyond, working closely with my team and Related Companies to bring a thoughtful, innovative new program to our community."

For more information on the Digital Curb Challenge, including the simple application form, please visit https://www.coord.com/digital-curb-challenge or contact Coord at challenge@coord.com.

About Coord

Coord is transforming city streets, starting with the curb. Coord is the only comprehensive curb management platform, empowering cities with technology to digitally operate and price the curb at scale, creating more efficient, safe and equitable streets. Recognized by CNBC Upstart 100 and Fast Company’s Innovation by Design, Coord partners include cities like Seattle, Boston, Somerville, Pittsburgh, Omaha, Nashville, Aspen, Boulder and West Palm Beach. Coord is based in New York City and backed by Alphabet's Sidewalk Labs, Alliance Ventures, Trucks, Urban.us and DB Digital Ventures. For more information, visit coord.com.