Supporting the Development and Adoption of an Open Source, Mobility-Focused Platform for Management of Cities' Public Right-of-Way

Adopted at the 87th Annual Meeting in 2019

  • WHEREAS, cities have a responsibility and well-established authority to manage the movement of vehicles in the public realm to increase safety, promote commerce, relieve congestion, and improve quality of life; and

    WHEREAS, that management has long been implemented through static tools such as road signs, road striping, painting of curbs, driver education and more dynamic tools such as street lights, traffic enforcement, emergency vehicle signaling and road closures; and

    WHEREAS, the variety of vehicles using the public right-of-way is dramatically increasing, and includes shared scooters, shared bikes, autonomous vehicles, and soon autonomous aerial delivery vehicles; and

    WHEREAS, the overall number of vehicles in cities is dramatically increasing as well because of the popularity of on-demand food delivery, ride sharing and other factors; and

    WHEREAS, if managed well, this evolving transportation landscape can provide convenience, new business opportunities, emission reductions and personal financial savings; and

    WHEREAS, if managed poorly, this new landscape can lead to increased congestion, safety concerns, and overloading of sidewalks and curbs; and

    WHEREAS, cities must interact with these new mobility providers to help ensure the benefits are accessible and distributed equitably and at the same time manage the challenges of preserving exceptional quality-of-life and safety; and

    WHEREAS, while private companies increasingly guide citizens with navigation applications, there is a need for cities to retain the authoritative version of their streets, particularly during emergencies and events; and

    WHEREAS, this new landscape requires the implementation of both new static and dynamic tools to enable cities to carryout their authority to manage the movement of vehicles in the public realm; and

    WHEREAS, new software technologies and tools have become and are becoming available to digitally administer this complex new transportation landscape; and

    WHEREAS, privacy is a critical component of any future mobility management solution and must be thoughtfully designed and embedded within the technology so that cities can elevate individual privacy while preserving the goals of public transparency and appropriate access to data,

    NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that The U.S. Conference of Mayors supports the development and broad deployment of common, open-sourced software platforms that allow cities to fulfill their multiple responsibilities for safety, limiting congestion, promoting commerce and improving quality of life,

    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the development and deployment of such platforms be led by cities, in partnership with private and non-profit entities, in a way that establishes checks and balances to develop open source solutions for the common mobility challenges that all cities face.
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