MobileGR, 2018-03-08

EV Charging Stations

Electric charging stations where installed in 2011.

• 5 downtown (1 on-street)
• 1 in Oak Industrial Park
• 1 at Waste Water site.

All stations have been upgraded; new stations have two cords and have retaining clips to help keep the cords off the ground which was an issue with the previous charging stations.

Last year 9MW of power was consumed charging vehicles for a count of 1,100 unique users. As the city is not permitted to charge for power these parking spaces are charged a premium, typically about double the normal parking fee.

Charging stations can be located using the Charge Point app or website.

City policy requires that new parking facilities provide a minimum of one charging station for every 200 spaces.

DASH Rebranding

The Grey Matter Group, a marketing firm located in the Heartside neighborhood, presented a variety of ideas to facilitate [re]branding of the DASH service. Part of the [re]branding effort involved gathering information on awareness of the service:

• 87% of people-on-the-street where aware of the service, but many were not certain how it worked.
• 72% of people-on-the-street had not utilized the service.
• The common complaint about the service's mystery stops was ... common; as anyone would expect.

The changes to the DASH service should be available for the April 12th meeting of the MobileGR commission. Changes to the service are expected to be effective on August 27th. Improved stop amenities - including it being clear where the stops are - will coincide with the service changes.

The August launch date was selected to avoid road work around Area 4 and Area 5 interfering with the new service. Riders will remember the unfortunate launch of the SilverLine BRT at the same time Wyoming began to tear up Division Ave; this seems like a very wise choice.

Car Share

An RFI (Request For Information) has been issued to various car share providers. Results should be complete by March 23rd with a summary of the responses available for the April 12th meeting of the MobileGR commission. An electric vehicle component may be included in the possible car share service.

RAPID#19

Currently the RAPID#19 - the Michigan/Bridge St. crosstown service - currently operates as a limited service commuter route with only ~11 trips a day. In cooperation with Spectrum Health and The RAPID the service will be expanded to an fareless all day service with consistent 15 minute frequencies. This partially meets one of the goals of the Michigan Street Corridor Plan: 15 minute or better, every day, transit service. The limitation is that this enhancement will only be Mon - Fri, with no weekend service. Given the rapid residential growth along the corridor as well as the potential for two grocery stores to open on the route in 2018 this is very disappointing and limits the value of the service to residents.

Final details on the service improvements should be available for the April 12th meeting of the MobileGR commission. Enhanced service is expected to begin in May of 2018.

An important detail of the enhancements that will benefit residents is the addition of cross-walk facilities on Michigan St. between Fuller Ave and Plymouth Ave. Currently this l-o-n-g section of five lane road has no pedestrian crossing facilities.

Bike Safety Training

The commission is working to offer a bike safety training program with a Spanish language option. This program is in cooperation with the various bicycle groups.

UPDATE 2018-03-12: The class is League of American Bicyclists "Smart Cycling" class. This would most likely be the LAB's 8 hour course divided across ~3 sessions.

Mobility Summit

The commission is planning to host a "Mobility Summit" in the first week of May 2018. The likely location of the summit is the Kroc Center located on the SilverLine BRT. The intention is for the summit to be free and open to the public.

Area 4 & Area 5

It is always a shining moment when a parking lot dies. Area 4 died yesterday evening and today [2018-03-08] will be the city's first day free of her. Area 5 will follow her into history sometime in mid April. Construction at the two sites will involve some street inconveniences through August. Areas 4 and 5 are the site of the new Studio C, a development which will provide new amenities to residents. At the completion of this development residents will be able to see a major motion picture downtown, within the 0.25 mile walk-shed of 19 transit routes, for the first time since 1976 - one year before the first Star Wars film was released.