Project MOVER: Moving Onto Vast E-Micromobility Replication
After several recent planning processes, the Village of Ossining identified the need for clean mobility options to enhance neighborhood access, connect people to downtown, the riverfront, ferry landing, and Metro-North station. People seek to alleviate Ossining's hilly terrain. The Village has a predominately low-income Latino and Black population that desires affordable mobility. Project MOVER will dramatically expand access to shared and personal e-bikes and create an Electric Micromobility Incubator - a knowledge exchange for communities to access deployment blueprints to replicate implementation beyond the Village. The project features a comprehensive support infrastructure, including e-bike charging docks, low-cost lease-to-own e-bikes and reduced fare shared e-bike trips, additional bike parking, community-led training and marketing, and turnkey operations. The project will increase bike and transit trips; reduce driving trips, vehicle miles traveled (VMT), and CO2 emissions; and increase access to key destinations. Project outcomes will be measured through app-based trip monitoring, surveys, travel diaries, and community conversations.
Project MOVER will provide a viable mobility option that will overcome the Village's topography - particularly for people who don't want to or can't afford to drive. This project will reduce transportation costs and increase job access and opportunities outside the immediate community. The location and capacity of the docks will be defined together with the community through an engagement process that will also entail educational programs aimed at introducing the system to all users.
The ultimate litmus test for Project MOVER is rides taken and the number of people that sign up for the lease-to-own and reduced fare program. Usage and acquisition indicate real interest in using e-bikes and, more importantly, rethinking how they get around.
Our primary risk management strategy is community consultation. We will mitigate course corrections by tapping into the expertise of disadvantaged community leaders and residents. The community will steer the design, look and feel, and support systems needed to make this investment truly for them. The program's success will be measured using input collected during the ongoing community engagement process. This information will identify what's successful and potential changes needed to respond to community needs and program goals.
The proposed solution will certainly benefit many people living and working in Ossining. However, designing a system specifically for disadvantaged communities would concentrate benefits in that community. This system design approach is scalable to other municipalities with similar demographic characteristics, steep topography, and the need for improved transit access - evidenced by the strong interest in Incubator participation.