Seeking to Shape the Future of Transportation, Seattle Launches New Mobility Playbook
In an effort to guide the surge of new technology that is rapidly transforming transportation systems in cities across the world, the Seattle Department of Transportation launched the New Mobility Playbook.
As transportation becomes increasingly shared, active, self-driving, electric, and data-driven, Seattle is planning ahead to ensure that innovation contributes to a safe, equitable, sustainable city with a transportation system that serves everyone. The New Mobility Playbook includes a set of strategies that will position Seattle to encourage and guide innovation in transportation technology, reorganizing our streets to grow healthy communities and vibrant public spaces.
“Our city’s future hinges on our ability to align innovation with our values,” said SDOT Director Scott Kubly. “We want to encourage innovation, but it’s got to put people first. Self-driving cars and other technologies aren’t worth much if they’re clogging the roads or too expensive for most people. It is our hope that entrepreneurs, policy experts, and community advocates from Seattle and across the country will join in the conversation and partner with us to make cities safer, more equitable, and more sustainable places to live.”
At the Playbook’s core are five “plays” to structure SDOT’s approach to new technologies and spur inventive and effective solutions.
- Play 1: Ensure new mobility delivers a fair and just transportation system for all
- Play 2: Enable safer, more active, and people-first uses of the public right-of-way
- Play 3: Reorganize and retool SDOT to manage innovation and data
- Play 4: Build new information and data infrastructure so new services can “plug and play”
- Play 5: Anticipate, adapt to, and leverage innovative and disruptive transportation technologies
In addition to specific strategies for shaping the future of transportation, the New Mobility Playbook includes a set of guiding principles, an assessment of current conditions, a preview of new mobility trends, and an evaluation of the potential upsides and downsides of new mobility.
"Seattle shares all-too-common transportation challenges, but innovators will benefit from reading this report and understanding the city's unique priorities and vision for the future of mobility,” said Stonly Baptiste, partner at Urban Us Ventures, a venture fund for startups that are making cities better.
“The New Mobility Playbook is the clearest sign yet that cities finally understand they must control their connected mobility destinies,” said Greg Lindsay, senior fellow, mobility at the New Cities Foundation. “Left to their own devices, new technologies, companies and services will never create a more responsive and equitable transportation system — cities play an invaluable role in guiding their development. It’s great to see Seattle DOT embracing the future and inviting entrepreneurs to work with it, on its own terms, rather than at cross-purposes.”
