California-based Populus has launched the Open Streets Initiative to help public officials during the current pandemic create and communicate new street policies, such as street closures and slow streets that prioritise pedestrians and cyclists.
 
The Populus platform helps cities manage transportation and mobility services. Over the past two years, cities around the world – from Baltimore to Buenos Aires – have used the platform to manage policies for shared mobility. With Populus, cities securely access data from shared bike and scooter providers such as Spin, Bird and Uber. Transportation planners can then create and communicate data-driven policies for mobility services to use city pavements, kerbs and streets more safely.
 
As cities grapple with Covid-19, many public officials have begun to open streets by closing them to cars, creating more room for pedestrians and cyclists for safe social distancing. These recent policies build on over a decade of advocacy and best practices highlighted by organisations such as the National Association of City Transportation Officials (Nacto) to consider the diverse ways that city streets can be used.
 
To empower cities with digital technology that supports the flexible, nimble management required for a rapidly changing landscape, Populus has introduced Populus Street Manager.
 
“How people move in cities is rapidly changing day by day,” said Regina Clewlow, CEO and co-founder of Populus. “With our platform, we empower city planners with digital solutions that help them manage the future of mobility in a dynamic way.”
 
Populus Street Manager enables cities to identify and communicate temporary street closures and policies to key stakeholders including the general public, mapping platforms and delivery services. Common use cases include:

• Planned and approved construction activity.
• Temporary street closures to facilitate open streets.
• Partial or full street closures for major or special events.

Many cities around the world, including Oakland, Brookline and Minneapolis, have adopted open streets initiatives that prioritise cyclists and pedestrians on specific street segments and corridors. The Oakland Slow Streets programme is one of the most extensive, which will eventually close 120km of the city streets to through motor traffic. Other cities have also closed streets for construction to accelerate existing planned improvements for public transit.

“Cities are seeking to better allocate limited public space more efficiently and equitably, including our streets, kerbs and sidewalks,” said Beth Osborne, director of Transportation For America, which hosts the Smart Cities Collaborative. “However, they often lack the tools to do so. Populus delivers the type of innovations that assist city leaders to manage their streets in a rapidly changing world.”

Applications for the Open Streets Initiative are open and can be submitted until May 15, 2020. Through this, Populus will provide its Street Manager to a select number of cities in 2020.

Founded by transportation PhDs from MIT and UC Berkeley, the Populus team combines over 30 years of experience building software for public agencies to plan for the future of transportation.