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I grew up in the East End, steeped in Pittsburgh’s history of innovation and entrepreneurship from Carnegie Steel to Heinz Ketchup to Salk’s polio vaccine. Yet, more and more, I see my hometown innovating and transforming in ways that could make it a blueprint for cities around the world.
When it comes to the future of transportation, I have been lucky to witness these changes firsthand. As CEO of Ford Motor Co.’s micromobility unit Spin, I lead a company full of business leaders, community advocates, transportation officials, land use experts, engineers and philanthropists whom the city of Pittsburgh has invited to help reinvent how Pittsburghers get around town without a car.
Tribune-Review
Jaxon White | Tribune-Review
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Laurel: To a new way to move. The City of Pittsburgh is planning to get people up and running with a Move PGH pilot program launching in the Manchester neighborhood.
The program will put 100 electric scooters in use to push the city’s efforts for Universal Basic Mobility a project that also would include car-share services, electric mopeds, carpool matching, electric charging stations and a mobile app for trip planning.
Mayor Bill Peduto who has taken plenty of flak for his support of other alternative transportation support like bike lanes says the program is different from scooter projects in places like Washington, D.C., or Portland, Ore., because of the public-private partnership aspect. Move PGH is working with Spin, a part of Ford Mobility.
David Kelly for MovePGH
Jaxon White | Tribune-Review
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The City of Pittsburgh launched its Move PGH pilot program on Friday by promising to place 100 electric scooters across the neighborhood of Manchester in the near future.
Move PGH is the beginning of the city’s efforts to jump-start its Universal Basic Mobility program. The initiative’s goal is to provide accessibility of up-and-coming modes of transportation such as electric scooters, car-share services and electric mopeds.
“Universal basic mobility is a human right,” said LaShawn Burton-Faulk, executive director of Manchester Citizens Corp. “Easy access to affordable, reliable, convenient transportation services impacts a person’s life more than nearly anything else.”
In early February, the L.A. City Department of Transportation (LADOT) quietly released its 2021-2023 Strategic Plan Update. It’s a glossy document full of high-production-value photos and high-minded goals. But the plan sets frustratingly weak commitments to improving L.A.’s deadly streets.
The plan is emblematic of LADOT’s decline under Mayor Eric Garcetti and LADOT General Manager Seleta Reynolds. Garcetti fancies himself a climate champion. Reynolds was recruited to LADOT as an advocate for pedestrians and safe streets. But this new Strategic Plan sets the sights set so low it might was well be a white flag of surrender to the forces of motordom.