Cities have long designed roads to meet the needs of one mode of transportation: private cars and trucks traveling at higher speeds. For decades, people have relied on personal cars for commuting to work, personal travel, and running errands—but these vehicles are often carrying just one person. 

As cities grow, more people are turning to greener and more affordable transportation options, such as bikes and scooters. In the US, the number of people biking has increased over the last few years, from 45 million in 2015 to 45.7 million in 2017. Unfortunately, infrastructure to protect these road users hasn’t kept up with this shift: according to the World Health Organization, more than half of all road traffic deaths are of vulnerable road users, including pedestrians and cyclists. 

We believe that investing in new infrastructure can better protect people on two wheels and help pave the way for safer roads for all, necessary for cities to thrive. As part of Uber’s ongoing commitment to safety, we are taking several steps to help be a part of the solution, including pushing for federal, state and local legislative action, and launching a new tool to help cities make informed infrastructure decisions based on data. 

City Mobility Campaign:

Today Uber, on behalf of PeopleForBikes, the North American Bikeshare Association and the League of American Bicyclists, authored a letter urging the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure to prioritize the safety of vulnerable roadway users such as bicyclists, scooter riders, and pedestrians through additional funding measures and incentive programs. Read the full letter here. 

Through our City Mobility Campaign, we are helping create and support legislation at the state, local and federal level to increase funding for infrastructure to help protect cyclists and pedestrians. We are also supporting legislation that would help ensure the expansion of improved bike infrastructure on city streets and unlock funding for bicycle-friendly policies:

  • New Mobility Infrastructure Legislation: Would require new mobility lanes be added to every street once it is re-paved, using a formula developed by  the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) for determining the bike infrastructure for each street based on traffic speed and volume; and, 
  • Congestion Pricing Legislation: Would help fund mass transit and new mobility infrastructure while helping decrease traffic by disincentivizing the current dependence on personal cars to get around cities. 

Bike Travel Tool:

For the first time, Uber is making available to the public  a free data tool that will combine JUMP bike volume with a complete city street view. We are making this public so that cities and citizens alike can understand and advocate for the best bike infrastructure possible. This tool allows for data-driven decision making to improve bike safety throughout the city and can be used to compare weekday and weekend volume, and be filtered based on the time of day.

The combination of having access to both sets of data in one comprehensive tool can help both cities and advocates better pinpoint where new micromobility infrastructure like protected bike lanes can be located to serve the most people on bikes and scooters in a city. The bike travel tool which is launching the first wave  today in San Francisco, Washington D.C., and Paris provides a way to easily understand and visualize where people are biking and where the gaps are in bike infrastructure. Below shows a 24-hour period in San Francisco. 

Below shows a 24-hour period in San Francisco. 

We are committed to helping make roads safe for everyone on all modes of travel, and we will continue to help make our new mobility options fit cities’ needs and priorities. 

 

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