Meet the 2021 Virtual Conference Keynote Panel
Day two of the Rolling With It: Empowering Shared Micromobility will include a plenary panel discussing shared micromobility’s role in addressing the climate crisis, issues related to transportation equity, and job creation and access. The panel will feature perspectives from Canada, Mexico, and the U.S.
We’re thrilled to have Charles Brown, Mariana Orozco Camacho, Amanda O’Rourke, and Jamie Stuckless at the conference to share their insights and experiences from their respective countries regarding shared micromobility and its ability to help cities meet opportunities and overcome challenges to better communities.
Learn more about them below!
Charles T. Brown, MPA, CPD – U.S. Representative
Charles T. Brown is the Founder and CEO of Equitable Cities LLC. He is a self-proclaimed “street-level researcher,” working at the intersection of transportation, health, and equity. Charles serves as a senior researcher with the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center (VTC) and adjunct professor at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, both at Rutgers University. He has 17 years of public and private sector experience in urban and regional planning, public policy, and research.
Q: What trends in shared micromobility do you find most promising?
A: I’m intrigued by the heightened awareness and push for increased racial and gender equity in micromobility. The sustainability of these modes heavily depend on making them more accessible and safer for these populations. And, of course, the electrification of these modes is a win-win for everyone, including the environment.
Q: If you could instantly change something about our transportation network, what would it be?
A: I would ensure that our network automatically protects our most vulnerable modes of transportation.
Mariana Orozco Camacho is the Director of SEDATU, the Mexican cabinet agency in charge of agriculture, urban development, and living space. In addition, she’s held positions in civil organizations, consultancy, and government working to promote and implement mobility solutions at the local and national levels, focusing on human rights, climate change, and road safety.
Q: What trends in shared micromobility do you find most promising?
A: It is necessary to turn to see the mobility options that make it easier for us to overcome as a society the health, climate, road safety and gender violence emergency that we are experiencing, such as the pop-up infrastructure, the initiatives promoted by the community and those alternatives of low cost and high impact that encourage mobility on foot (also with technical aids), by bicycle, as well as intermodality with public transport, while reducing the need to use the car and motorcycle; viewing mobility as a human right rather than a service.
The proposal of the Government of Mexico can be analyzed in the 4S Mobility Strategy (for its acronym in Spanish), which can be consulted here.
Q: If you could instantly change something about our transportation network, what would it be?
A: The public transport service in Mexico works under a concession model known as person-bus or by companies that charge in the rate or in the benefits of the people who operate the buses, those costs of operation, safety and investment in vehicles and equipment , which directly impacts service levels.
The change that I would like to see would be that we could adapt this conventional model to a more equitable, transparent and with the efficient participation of the state that, without excluding the current operators, facilitates above all intermodality with other modes of transport, as well as the service quality, comfort, safety, accessibility, adaptability, resilience, sustainability and affordability, as key principles in the design and operation of the transportation network.
In the same way, the infrastructure for transit in the Mexican territory is focused on the circulation of motorized vehicles without considering other users; generating negative impacts in the economic, health and socio-environmental system. It is necessary to transform the way we design our streets and highways and include a comprehensive vision in them.
Amanda O’Rourke is the Executive Director of 8 80 Cities. She was a key architect of the 8 80 concept and has been an integral driving force in the development and growth of the organization for the last 13 years. In addition, she has worked on numerous local and international projects that put people at the center of the planning, design, and management of public spaces.
Q: What trends in shared micromobility do you find most promising?
A: I find the increased focus on achieving equity in mobility most promising. I think the shared language and vocabulary is changing with micromobility increasingly understood as a win-win for achieving climate, health and equity goals.
Q: If you could instantly change something about our transportation network, what would it be?
A: I would instantly flip the switch on how we allocate space for cars to space to healthier, more equitable, and more sustainable forms of transport. Imagine if instead of 80% of space allocated to cars and 20% for walking, bicycling, and other types of micromobility, we could instantly flip the equation? The benefits would be amazing!
Jamie Stuckless – Moderator
Jamie Stuckless is the Owner and Principal Consultant at her company Stuckless Consulting Inc. She’s worked as a cycling advocate in Ontario, Canada for over a decade. She’s collaborated on campaigns to fund hundreds of kilometers of cycle tracks, bike lanes and multi-use trails, expand shared micromobility systems, and much more. In addition, she served as the Executive Director of the Share the Road Cycling Coalition and worked on local road safety projects on behalf of EnviroCentre, Green Communities Canada, and as a consultant.
Q: What trends in shared micromobility do you find most promising?
A: I am glad to see greater multi-modal connections being made between shared micromobility and transit. I also live in a community where the bike share system returned to being operated by a non-for-profit organization last year, which feels promising because they have really put an emphasis on equity and access over profits.
Q: If you could instantly change something about our transportation network, what would it be?
A: Well, there’s a lot of things I’d like to change, like I am sure many NABSA members do, but here are some thoughts.
People walking, cycling and wheeling would automatically have the right of way, and everyone on the road would respect that because our transportation networks were built to reflect it.
If I can suggest a few more things to go along with that, speeds would also be lower, intersections would have raised sidewalks and bike lanes, and we’d never see another “bike lane ends” sign at an intersection – or anywhere for that matter – again.