Viktor Musil
Cities across the U.S., such as San Jose and Portland, are leveraging digital curb management data projects to improve parking management and delivery systems. By analyzing large datasets of curb usage, cities are developing more responsive pricing models to optimize street parking based on real-time demand. In San Jose, a $2 million federal grant is driving efforts to study curb use and create a pricing system that adjusts to parking supply and demand. Portland is similarly implementing data-driven initiatives, using analytics to design a zero-emission delivery zone downtown. Transportation tech firm INRIX is helping cities like San Francisco and Portland by providing real-time curb and parking data, which informs policy decisions related to urban mobility and curb asset management. These initiatives are backed by the Open Mobility Foundation, which is promoting standards for “mobility data specifications” (MDS) and “curb data specifications” (CDS) to streamline curb management processes. With projects like these, cities aim to transform how curb spaces are utilized, enhance urban mobility, and support sustainable initiatives like emission-free delivery zones. The future of curb management is moving toward tech-driven solutions that offer smarter, more efficient use of urban spaces, leading to more adaptive and sustainable cities.
Cities all over the country are working on projects to gather and analyze sizable amounts of electronic data points in order to reduce usage. This may lead to novel delivery methods and fluctuating parking costs.
Cities are examining the activity at their curbs more closely, starting with examining the borders as a component of a online system that supports deliveries, parking, and the evolving dynamic of urban life.
Digital curb projects in urban areas like San Jose and San Francisco could help to better understand parking requirements and set parking prices appropriately.
In San Jose, nearly all of the street parking is set at a flat$ 2 an hour, explained Elias Khoury, program manager for the San Jose Transportation Department. San Jose received a approximately$ 2 million federal grant in 2023 to support a pilot project aimed at improving our understanding of curb use. That project is assisting in the development of the data required to study powerful curb parking rates.
Cities Explore Dynamic Curb Pricing and Zero-Emission Delivery Zones with Advanced Data Analytics
In comments made during a webinar held on August 20 by the Open Mobility Foundation, Khoury stated,” We are hoping to create a powerful pricing model that can support initiatives to either increase or lower the rates, based on supply and demand.
“At this time, we cannot do it. I believe we can develop those pricing models with the technology we are using and the data” he added.
Further north, in Portland, Ore., officials are involved in a related curb data project — this one to create a zero-emission delivery zone in downtown.
Transportation technology company INRIX is “leading the technology stack that’s going in to support that delivery zone,” Michael Schwartz, general manager of city software solutions for INRIX said.
Through the collected curb analytics data, Portland officials will be able to learn more about the city’s curbs. A portion of this information will help them visualize the micro-freight operator’s operations in the same way Portland has done micromobility data before.
” So we’ll be able to leverage those partnerships to be able to have data-informed decision-making about how the delivery zone is working, in real time”, Schwartz said.
Standardized Mobility and Curb Data Systems Transform City Transportation Management
Through the creation of “mobility data specifications” ( MDS ) and” curb data specifications ( CDS ), organizations like the Open Mobility Foundation ( OMF) have developed and promoted systems of common language around how mobility occurs in cities and how the curbs are used.
These actions provide the framework for developing technology- and data-driven transportation systems. Cities are aiming to institutionalize online curb data management, beyond the effort” to only code the curb,” said Michael Schnuerle, OMF’s director of open source operations.
“You’re privately trying to change your processes, your asset management system, and the pipeline for using that data throughout your entire organization” Schneiderle said during the webinar.
In a single, real-time digital platform, INRIX is also working with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency ( SFMTA ), which has oversight over curbs and parking, to document physical assets on the street, including signage, parking spaces, and bus stops.
“They are real assets within the streets. And the intention is to develop a system that will automatically reflect any changes made to one of those things when they are made” Schwartz said.
INRIX and San Jose Leverage Extensive Curb Management to Drive Policy Changes and Parking Innovations
In addition to the numerous features that make up curbs and sidewalks, INRIX currently has a sizable amount of parking data for roughly 125 cities in North America and Europe, which can be used to inform a large body of policy decisions regarding the curb.
How can we talk about changes to the curb in the long run, Schwartz said, referring to how INRIX hopes its data project in San Francisco will lead to policy decisions.
This is similar to the direction San Jose is taking with its project to gather and interpret curb data.
“We are hoping that with these models, we can present to policy-makers in order to change the things that we need to change,” Khoury said”. So that they can support various initiatives, another than the $2-per-hour meter rate.”
