Code shift : data, governance, and equity in Los Angeles's shared mobility pilots

Abstract

Transportation planners suggest that smart mobility systems - cars, bikes, scooters and other vehicles connected to the internet - can advance social equity. While smart mobility systems can help address transport poverty, new technologies may also reproduce power asymmetries between communities, government, and mobility service providers. Through case studies of several of Los Angeles's shared mobility pilots, I argue that mobility equity demands the fair distribution of power (i.e. the right to co-design new systems and a role in adapting their operations), not only of resources. Designing mobility systems that are both equitable and smart, therefore, requires transportation planners to better integrate the lived experiences of residents, especially the poor and the disadvantaged, into data-driven planning efforts. Open data frameworks such as MDS (i.e. Mobility Data Specification) enhance the possibility for co-design and increased mobility equity - while also presenting new obstacles to overcome. To advance mobility equity, transportation planners should begin with inclusive data governance.