It’s been simply over two years since we sounded the alarm {that a} main effort on the Oregon Division of Transportation to higher perceive the state’s electrification wants was lacking a key ingredient: bicycles. Regardless of skyrocketing gross sales development and huge potential to serve the mobility wants of many Oregonians, ODOT’s Transportation Electrification Infrastructure Wants Evaluation (TEINA) initiative barely thought of e-bikes in any respect. It gave simply passing reference to them as “micromobility” units and perpetuated the false concept that solely automobiles and vehicles will be EVs.
With the discharge in the present day of the Electrical Micromobility in Oregon (EMO) report, ODOT has taken a giant step to treatment that oversight. BikePortland was given an early have a look at the report and we had been capable of ask one in all its authors a couple of questions on it.
The report comes out of ODOT’s Local weather Workplace. It was co-created for ODOT by Kittelson & Associates and the nonproft electrical car group, Forth. John MacArthur, a famous e-bike knowledgeable from Portland State College’s Transportation Analysis and Schooling Heart (TREC) was additionally on the staff that produced the report.
Along with being the primary and most supportive doc on e-bikes ever produced by ODOT, the 40-page EMO report provides bike advocates and policymakers lots to chew on. It considers the usage of e-bikes and scooters each by people and as a part of shared rental applications like Biketown. The report must also put wind within the sail of Home Invoice 2571, the e-bike rebate invoice at the moment being thought of by the Oregon Legislature (the invoice’s first public listening to was lately postponed partially to provide lawmakers and supporters time to digest this report.)
The report nonetheless categorizes bicycle EVs as “micromobility” alongside electrical scooters, segways, and different units. That is unlucky as a result of nobody exterior wonky bubbles is aware of what “micromobility” is, which makes it simple for policymakers to neglect about and marginalize. (I desire to not use that time period as a result of I would like individuals to think about bicycles after they consider EVs (since bicycles are technically electrical autos as per Oregon legislation), so I’m going to start out utilizing “micro-vehicles” and see how that matches. The report additionally provides a nod to electrical freight supply trikes, that are hardly “micro”. ) With this small framing quibble apart, the studies findings ought to assist additional ensconce electrical bicycles into Oregon’s transportation coverage framework.
Along with giving elected officers, advocates, and policymakers a wonderful overview of the e-bike market and its thrilling potential, the report presents a strong checklist of suggestions and “actionable methods” that will likely be obligatory to achieve it. Simply as vital because the options it outlines is how the report clearly lays out the challenges that face extra widespread adoption.
In a discovering that may shock nobody who’s been across the bike advocacy house for greater than every week or so, the report states that, “By far the biggest barrier to e-micromobility is the shortage of secure and linked infrastructure.” This can be a drawback advocates have raised a flag about for a few years in calling for wider and extra protected lanes for e-bike and scooter use. The report calls out this lack of secure house particularly in a piece titled, “Proper-of-Manner Allocation”:
The Oregon Bicycle and Pedestrian Design Information and ODOT’s Freeway Design Guide specify that bike lanes and multiuse paths have to be at the very least 4 toes and 10 toes broad, respectively. Neither doc mentions e-micromobility units (Oregon Division of Transportation, 2011) (Oregon Division of Transportation , 2023). As a result of they’re typically wider than commonplace bicycles, e-cargo bikes have hassle working inside these requirements. In areas with restricted house, the broader footprints and quicker speeds related to some e-micromobility units can even trigger security and operational conflicts with different modes. Since e-cargo bikes will be as broad as 4 toes, Oregon’s minimal width requirements for bike lanes and multiuse paths could not enable for secure passing alternatives.
In response to the report, lack of house on the highway is only one infrastructure drawback we have to repair. The others are a scarcity of safe parking, a scarcity of integration with public transit (for shared techniques), and the shortage of charging. This final level is one thing we’ve harped on for years (solely to have many people inform us it’s not a difficulty as a result of e-bikers can simply cost at house), so it’s good to see this problem spelled out within the report. “Not everybody can simply cost their gadget at house,” it reads. “Individuals who make longer journeys or use their e-bikes extra ceaselessly may additionally want entry to public charging.”
Different main challenges listed within the report embrace: excessive buy prices for micro-vehicles; the necessity for knowledge from bike and scooter share suppliers; ensuring entry to them reaches underserved communities; a complicated regulatory surroundings; a lack of expertise of micro-vehicles usually, and a scarcity of funding to function shared bike and scooter techniques (particularly for smaller cities)
Past the decision for extra highway house for micro-vehicles, the opposite two main coverage suggestions that caught our eyes had been sturdy assist for e-bike buy incentives and a name for Oregon to ascertain “zero-emission supply zones” to cut back congestion and emissions.
Jillian DiMedio is a senior transportation electrification analyst at ODOT’s Local weather Workplace and was one of many report’s chief authors. Try our Q & A together with her beneath:
Why did ODOT fee this report?
In 2021, ODOT revealed its Transportation Electrification Infrastructure Wants Evaluation (TEINA), which recognized Oregon’s electrical car charging wants over the subsequent 15 years because the state works to fulfill the zero emission car targets outlined in Senate Invoice 1044. Whereas this research included electrical micromobility as one in all its 9 transportation use circumstances, it grew to become clear early on that this quickly rising sector has its personal distinctive advantages and boundaries that wanted to be extra carefully researched and understood by ODOT. This sentiment was echoed by the micromobility stakeholders that participated in TEINA listening periods within the Spring of 2020.
Briefly, ODOT wished to higher perceive a quickly rising sector which can play an vital and rising position in serving communities’ transportation wants and in decreasing GHG emissions from transportation. The research sought to reply questions concerning the trade – its historical past and affect in Oregon, the advantages of and boundaries to adoption and finest practices and methods for encouraging widespread use.
The place will this report reside, administratively-speaking?
This research isn’t an official planning doc however somewhat a analysis paper performed to boost understanding of a quickly rising trade. ODOT’s Local weather Workplace and Public Transportation Division, each of which work on micromobility, are growing an strategy to implement the related suggestions within the research.
I do additionally need to be aware that ODOT only in the near past employed a brand new employees member within the Public Transportation Division (PTD) – a Micromobility and First/Final Mile Program Coordinator – that will likely be devoted to selling micromobility in Oregon. This individual will develop and implement at statewide technique for first/final mile connections with a deal with micromobility choices, and will definitely be referring to the report’s findings and suggestions as a part of this effort. She may even assist ODOT’s current Transportation Choices program and the brand new Modern Mobility Program, in addition to PTD’s broader efforts to construct an built-in, statewide public and energetic transportation community.
What was your objective with this report?
ODOT is dedicated to decreasing emissions from the transportation sector. This implies electrifying automobiles, vehicles and buses and utilizing cleaner fuels, and it means decreasing the miles pushed in Oregon by supporting transportation decisions corresponding to transit, biking and strolling. The emergence of electrical micromobility units presents a novel alternative to advance these efforts, as these units are interesting to a broad vary of customers and have various purposes. ODOT acknowledges that the elevated use of electrical micromobility units like e-bikes and e-scooters is a vital software within the toolkit for decreasing the local weather impacts of transportation.
With this in thoughts, the objective of the research was to do a deep dive into the electrical micromobility trade – trade tendencies, the market potential, finest practices from around the globe in selling adoption – in order that we and different determination makers in Oregon may make educated selections about the way to design coverage and applications to assist continued speedy adoption.
What do you’re feeling is the primary factor ODOT ought to prioritize from the report’s suggestions to encourage e-bike and scooter use?
What is evident from the research conclusions is that efficiently selling electrical micromobility in Oregon would require a collaborative strategy throughout many jurisdictions and stakeholders. There’s a lot ODOT can do to facilitate the expansion of this trade alongside our companions. As highlighted within the research, secure and linked infrastructure is a key consider selling and supporting the adoption of e-micromobility. ODOT will proceed to prioritize the growth of supportive infrastructure, as demonstrated by ODOT’s rising investments in applications like Nice Streets, Secure Routes to Faculty and the Modern Mobility Program.
The research additionally highlights the necessity for a supportive ecosystem, which incorporates safe parking services, public charging, the supply of adaptive units and equity-centered applications and insurance policies. ODOT can function a convener for this supportive ecosystem. And we all know that outreach and training are important to shift the notion of e-bikes from one the place they’re used primarily as leisure units to at least one the place they’re thought of viable modes of transportation, for all kinds of actions. Lending libraries and shared micromobility applications may help shift the notion and ODOT will proceed to advertise these as properly.
You’ll be able to study extra by studying the complete report or take a look at the chief abstract if you’re pressed for time.
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