Tag Archives for: TaaS

NRDC: Los Angeles Endorses New Blueprint for Making City a National Leader in Transportation

April 12, 2018

NRDC: Los Angeles Endorses New Blueprint for Making City a National Leader in Transportation

Plan Would Cut Pollution and Increase Access to More Transportation Options in Age of Ridesharing and Autonomous Vehicles

LOS ANGELES (April 12, 2018) – A new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council, endorsed by the City of Los Angeles, offers cutting-edge recommendations for tackling the city’s notorious transportation challenges, as technology in the form of rides-on-demand and autonomous vehicles revolutionizes how people move around in cities. The recommendations in the report could be replicated in cities around the country.

“Shared mobility has certainly made its mark in cities — sometimes for the better, but not always,” said Amanda Eaken, Director of Transportation and Climate with NRDC’s Healthy People and Thriving Communities program. “This policy framework is designed to put the city on a path to cleaner air and better access to transportation for Angelenos of all income levels—setting a model for cities nationwide to follow.”

Los Angeles is already on its way: It now ranks third in the nation for daily public transportation ridership and stands as a national leader on car-sharing, bike-sharing, and environmental sustainability. These recommendations can help the city build on the progress it has made and cement its role as a national leader in sustainable urban transportation.

“The decisions we make today will determine what kind of neighborhoods our kids will live in tomorrow,” said Los Angeles City Councilmember Mike Bonin, who chairs the Council’s Transportation Committee and serves on the Metro Board of Directors. “Creating a future where everyone has access to safe and convenient mobility options — and where innovations like shared mobility can make it easier to live in LA without owning a car — requires good information and thoughtful consideration of the work that must be done. Thankfully, this report offers the information we need and makes recommendations for how we can approach the work ahead, and I am grateful to the teams at NRDC and LADOT for their hard work.”

Seleta Reynolds, General Manager of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, said, “Los Angeles stands to reap the most benefits or possibly suffer the greatest negative effects of the arrival of disruptive transportation technologies and new business models that rest on the acceleration of shared mobility. This Action Plan will guide LADOT towards ensuring that these services work for all Angelenos, and provide sustainable and equitable mobility.”

Los Angeles Shared-Mobility Climate and Equity Action Plan presents a first-of-its-kind policy framework for how shared mobility—such as bike- and ridesharing services—can better help cities cut climate pollution and increase access to transportation in communities that are historically underserved. The recommendations draw on the most recent research on the impacts of shared mobility, as well as best practices from around the world, and offer a role for city government in shaping this emerging mobility marketplace.

The report takes into account the effects of ridesharing companies such as Uber and Lyft on congestion and the environment, the need for more infrastructure for electric cars and buses, the rapid development of autonomous vehicles, and embedded transportation structures that have neglected low-income communities.

Its recommendations include:

· Creating incentives for the use of electric vehicles in ridesharing and other shared mobility options

· Piloting a congestion pricing zone in the city to manage flow in high-traffic areas and create a sustainable funding source for low-carbon mobility choices

· Creating a single routing, booking, and payment platform to enable access to all mobility options

· Developing specifications for gathering data from mobility providers

· Creating an equity advisory committee on transportation to provide greater input into city decision-making,

· Reducing or eliminating minimum parking requirements in the city zoning code

Additional information:

Action Plan: https://www.nrdc.org/resources/angeles-shared-mobility-climate-and-equity-action-plan

Medium: LA is Flipping the Script on Commuting: https://www.nrdc.org/experts/carter-rubin/flipping-script-commuting

NRDC Instagram story on shared mobility action plan: https://www.instagram.com/stories/nrdc_org/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NRDC/status/984433705237336071

Press Release: https://www.nrdc.org/media/2018/180412

SURVISION LLC, a global leader in License Plate Reading (LPR) for integrators has opened its US Office at 11251 NW 20th Street Suite 116 in Miami.

April 09, 2018

SURVISION LLC, a global leader in License Plate Reading (LPR) for integrators has opened its US Office at 11251 NW 20th Street Suite 116 in Miami.

The new premises will support SURVISION customers with sales, operations, installation and commissioning services. The operations will support customers for the North and Latin American markets. This opening, as well as the recent launches of the NANOPAK and MICROPAK 3, confirms SURVISION’s ambitions. Laura Caillot, General Manager of SURVISION LLC, will be heading the American operations. Laura brings over ten years of operations, logistics and international business development experience to the job.

“The decision to develop our presence in the US was a logical step in our business growth strategy” said Jacques Jouannais, CEO of SURVISION. “The North American market offers large opportunities to roll our technology in the parking and tolling industries. Our local presence enables us to deliver great products and services to our customers.”

For more information, visit www.survisiongroup.com or contact directly SURVISION at contact@survisiongroup.com.

About SURVISION

SURVISION is a global leader in License Plate Reading (LPR). Since 2001, with solutions being deployed in over 30 countries with more than 20,000 sensors thanks to a network of 300 Value Added Integrators. The quality of its R&D team allows SURVISION to work with world class integrators for a complete set of innovative solutions for Smart-City, Smart-Parking, law enforcement, toll road collection, car-park management and for local authorities.

Metra commuters and Chicagoans have used PassportParking® and ParkChicago apps over 40 million times

April 03, 2018

Metra commuters and Chicagoans have used PassportParking® and ParkChicago apps
over 40 million times

Apps make getting around Chicagoland easier, more convenient and faster

Chicago, Ill. (April 3, 2018) — If the 20th century is considered the century of the automobile, then the 21st century will evolve with citizens at the helm of how they commute through a variety of innovations in transportation.

Today, Chicagoland commuters have more choices than ever. While 50 percent of commuters are opting to drive during their weekday commute, the other 50 percent are opting for a quicker and more convenient way into the Chicago Loop with public transit. Price is always seen as a determining factor to how people travel but time is becoming increasingly more important.

According to Passport, the global leader of mobile payments for parking and transit, the City of Chicago as well as the towns and villages near Chicago have turned to technology to make driving and commuting across Chicagoland easier through mobile parking payment apps. Parkers in the city can have been using the ParkChicago app, made by Passport, to pay for parking on the go in the city’s more than 36,000 on-street parking spaces, and at the same time over 70 Metra park-and-ride lots along Chicago’s commuter line have implemented the PassportParking® app. In total, Chicagoans have used the Passport-powered apps over 40 million times in the last 5 years to pay for parking from the convenience of their smartphones.

The Passport parking apps are found to be an easy alternative to traditional payment methods, like paystations or cash boxes. The apps enable motorists to start and extend parking sessions remotely, allowing Metra riders to take the train while avoiding lines to pay. The apps send alerts and notifications about parking sessions; provide payment history; and email receipts at the end of each parking session.

“Towns and villages want to provide the same conveniences of major cities like Chicago,” said Passport executive David Singletary of the surge in Illinois clients. “The old way of parking at a commuter lot is time-consuming and outdated. Add Illinois’ often inclement weather to the scenario and it can be uncomfortable and frustrating—day after day. The Passport mobile payment system smoothes over all of those friction points.”

Metra has 11 separate lines connected to the Chicago Loop, and serves more than 100 communities at 241 rail stations. According to Metra, the commuter rail line travels nearly 500 route miles and has an average weekday ridership of almost 300,000 people. In The Daily Line podcast, “Predicting the Future of Transportation in Chicago,” Audrey Wennink, director of transportation policy at The Metropolitan Planning Council, shared how people are moving in cities like Chicago. “The only two cities that have more transit riders are Los Angeles and New York City—really dense cities. Most other cities have 75-80 percent of drivers. As we move into the future, we have to make sure we sustain our transit system. It’s a real jewel,” said Wennink.

Moovit Insights reports that the average commute in Chicago is 86 minutes, similar to commutes in Los Angeles and New York City. The morning travel time is often made longer when motorists must drive to the nearest commuter parking lot and pay for parking with outdated methods. Depending on the Metra lot, people must cram cash into a metal box to pay (with no proof of payment provided); or walk to a machine and punch in the space or plate number; or lastly, go to a pay-and-display station where they pay at a machine, grab a ticket and walk back to the vehicle to display the ticket on the windshield, all while racing to board the train. Simply put: the time adds up, and the experience can be problematic, especially if the rider forgets cash or misses the train. However, with the PassportParking app, commuters can simply park, and pay on the go from wherever they may be.

“As the needs of commuters in Chicago continue to change and grow, the technology options need to align. The PassportParking app provides a much-needed convenience to daily commutes,” said Singletary.

Passport is the industry’s leading mobile technology solution specializing in enterprise business applications and payments for the public and private sectors. The company partners with more than 60 municipalities in Illinois. The PassportParking app is free to download through the App Store or Google Play. Users can also manage their parking at ppprk.com.

About Passport

Passport transforms the way cities manage their operations. The fintech company’s mobile-first platform has been adopted by more than 450 cities, universities and private operators around the world in cities including Chicago, Toronto, London and Miami, across more than 5,000 locations. Passport’s product lines —– parking, transit and tolling payments, parking enforcement and permit management —– enable organizations in the public and private sectors to streamline their operations, enhance customer service and make data-driven decisions. Consistently recognized as one of the fastest growing companies and Best Places to Work in Charlotte, North Carolina, Passport has an ingrained practice of putting People First —– a guiding principle in its Culture.

Passport is backed by a group of investors, including Bain Capital Ventures, Grotech Ventures, MK Capital and Relevance Capital. Learn more, or get in touch with Passport at passportinc.com.