What's New in City Design

Mobility Option Rating Tools



Mobility option ratings tools show how walkable and bikeable a place is, as well as the richness of transit options


Benefits & Problems Addressed

Real estate decisions: People seeking to buy a house or rent an apartment with many transportation options can make better decisions. 

Improve first/last mile - and beyond: Planners can evaluate the options around transit stops and stations within three miles of transit to see how to improve options and infrastructure.

Mobility deserts: Communities have a tool to onjectively evaluate areas with few, reliable options.


Tips & Techniques

How the tools work: The tools provide a score (e.g., from 1 to 100) for specific locations/addresses by aggregating and weighing relevent elements that enhance mobility.  Tool providers typically use publicly available data feeds to assess mobility options. Some tools allow predictive analysis of the impact of real estate development or infrastructure upgrades.  The tools are ususally free, with additional paid products such as data.

Walkability: Factors include walk times to common amenities and destinations, population density and street network elements condusive to walking (i.e., short block lengths). Common tools include WalkScore and State of Place.

Bikeability:  Factors that tend to go into scoring a place for bikeability can include presence of (1) on & off-street bike lanes, (2) hills (3) destinations and (4) bike commuting mode share.  BikeScore is one tool.

Transit: Tools rate how well a location is served by public transit. Measures can include number of stops, transit service frequency, and transit types. Some tools factor in the entire trip length (e.g., door to door travel times). Examples include MobilityScore and ransitScore.

Hot Buttons: The scores are only as good as the data feeds.  Scoring systems also can miss the condition of infrastructure such as sidewalks, which can hinder walkability. Scores are typically best used to inform decisions, but are not precise enough as analytic tools for funding decisions.


Examples from Marketplace Partners

 



MobilityScore as a Site Slection Tool: TransitScreen helped Washington DC evaluate neighborhoods to attract Amazon's second headquarters in the Fall of 2017.  MobilityScore revealed neighborhoods that were rich in shared-use mobility options, as well as bus and subway service.