Populus Partners with Cities Around the World to Manage Flexible Street Policies for Reopening
As local policies rapidly change, Populus will deliver digital solutions to cities to coordinate dynamically changing street needs, including adding bike lanes, outdoor dining, and curb loading zones
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - July 9, 2020 — Populus, the industry-leading platform for public authorities to manage transportation and mobility services, today announced they have expanded their partnerships with cities from around the world to advance digital tools to create and communicate new street policies that help their economies reopen safely. Cities that are leveraging Populus’ expanded platform features for flexible management of their streets and curbs represent a wide variety of geographies, including New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Orlando, São José dos Campos, Baltimore, and Boston.
More than a dozen cities are using Populus’ new Street Manager solution to support their unique needs for reopening public spaces such as streets, sidewalks, and curbs. The partnership comes at a time when city transportation officials are faced with the challenge of redesigning and adapting their streets for new use cases, from creating dedicated spaces for biking and walking, to expanding curbside areas for outdoor dining, pick-up, and delivery.
Populus’ advanced technology suite empowers cities to identify temporary or permanent street policies, communicate them to the general public, and digitally provide up-to-date information to key mobility stakeholders such as mapping platforms and delivery services. Many cities are using Street Manager alongside Populus’ mobility management solutions which help them securely receive and analyze data from mobility fleets, such as shared scooters, mopeds, and cars, to support data-driven transportation policy and planning.
“Populus Street Manager provides New Orleans with the ability to update our digital infrastructure and communicate outwardly where in our transportation network each mode has access,” said Daniel Jatres, the Policy and Program of the New Orleans Mayor’s Office of Transportation.
The Populus platform currently supports complex curbside pricing policies for mobility fleets, such as carsharing. In addition to implementing data-driven curb management, this year many cities found that they had broader street policy changes requiring urgent action in light of how COVID has re-shaped transportation and public infrastructure needs.
"Pittsburgh has a variety of needs when it comes to communicating new street policies, ranging from new curb loading zones to streets that prioritize bikes and pedestrians,” said Tosh Chambers from The City of Pittsburgh. “Populus provides us with digital solutions that make it easier to update and communicate these policies broadly."
“Cities of all sizes are grappling with how to best manage access to public spaces that can be shared safely,” said Regina Clewlow, Co-founder and CEO of Populus. “The ability for transportation officials to dynamically manage and communicate changes about how their streets should be used is increasingly important as policies change on a day-to-day basis in response to COVID.”
ABOUT POPULUS
The Populus platform helps cities and private mobility providers deliver safe, efficient, and equitable streets. Populus is a comprehensive digital solution that empowers cities to manage their streets and develop data-driven policies with access to data from mobility fleets, including shared bikes, scooters, and cars. Founded by transportation PhDs from MIT and UC Berkeley, Populus is a trusted solution to deliver mobility data from shared mobility services in over 70 cities around the world. Learn more at populus.ai