TDM TAKEAWAYAn affordable way for cities to make improvements is to convene transportation enthusiasts.
Austin, home to great music, festivals and tech, is also facing some great challenges. Thanks to its success, congestion, long commutes, and escalating housing costs are looming.
For the first time, Austin’s South by Southwest (SXSW) festival is hosting Hack Our City. As part of the interactive program, five teams comprised of both locals and practitioners from around the country tackled Austin’s interlinked affordability and transportation problems. Austin is still reeling from voters’ rejection of a streetcar line last fall, viewed as a critical component of moving people and adding housing supply through transit oriented development. However, the community is now unsure what “Plan B” looks like.
While most Hackathons (hack + marathon) are focused on smartphone apps or software development, the SXSW Hackathon addresses policy. Participants, vying for coveted SXSW tickets, had two days to research, interview locals, and come up with the best actionable policy options. Working out of the Austin start-up hub the Capital Factory, teams worked for two days to impress city leaders.
A couple of key points emerged:
- Austin is already doing great work on the transportation and affordable housing front. Though new, the city’s premium bus service is attracting riders with frequent service, Wi-Fi, traffic signal prioritization, and a semi-dedicated lane (cars can use the bus lane for right turns). Austin’s bike programs are likewise offering “premium” service with bikeshare, trails, and protected lanes.
- The city is revamping its byzantine zoning code with The code re-write includes attention to the “missing middle” housing types: garage apartments, duplexes, triplexes, and small apartment buildings that can be sprinkled throughout neighborhoods.
- There is also a “missing middle” in transportation. Solo modes (bikes, cars, Uber) and heavier transit modes like light rail and streetcars dominate transportation planning. However, shuttles, vanpools, and carpools could relieve a significant amount of congestion.
Some of the key “hacks:”
- Austin needs a couple of communication hacks. One team came up with the iKnow Austin trivia game to communicate both fun facts and serious numbers. For example, the most congested freeway (the I-35) carries the same volume of trips as the bike program is moving through downtown each day. This helps illustrate that bikes are not “taking a lane,” but rather deserve investment.
- Austin also needs to better communicate multi-modal programs with car owners, who often perceive the city’s programs as anti-car and anti-driver. Instead of “minus car,” programs need to be packaged as “car+.” Car owners certainly do not like the congestion and the search for parking, but have options to avoid traffic when they want to. The message is emotional and simple: Austin’s programs are seeking ways to improve your quality of life and mobility.
- For affordability and transportation, bicycles play a special role that is not fully exploited for economic development and real estate. While we are familiar with transit-oriented development, why not “trail-oriented development” (an idea emerging in Atlanta with its Beltline)? There is also a huge boost in disposable income when bikes replace trips by other modes. Aren’t the savings more money for craft beer and music? Where is the Chamber of Commerce on this latent boost to the economy?
- Austin is home to transportation companies like RideScout and Car2Go, so transportation and parking apps have a “Buy Local” appeal.
- Transit tech’s next big thing is cracking the code on shared rides. Uber’s Uberpool and the Boston startup Bridj are working on transportation’s “missing middle” for tech-enabled vanpools. The beauty of these applications is creation of transit on non-fixed routes. Open data will be key to tracking the most popular origin-destination routes and integrating this information into overall transportation, land use, and economic programs.
So was this first-of-its-kind Hackathon useful? Time will tell whether the city adopts or adapts the suggestions. Participants viewed the intense, short session as both useful and constraining.
For future policy hackathons, knowing how to plug “hacks” into regulatory documents or programs is essential. All agree the mix of local and out-of-town participants proved to be valuable.
Have any readers seen other examples of policy hackathons? What are the essential ingredients that produce actionable, helpful policy and program improvements for cities?
Photo by Amber Case