/ MOBILITY & TECH
Valuing the Curbside in a New Normal
W
By David Carson Lipscomb
HEN I JOINED THE WASHINGTON, D.C., DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
(DDOT) two years ago as a curbside management planner, the concept of curbside management was new to many of my colleagues across the transportation planning world. Still, they usually understood that more happens at the curb than just vehicle storage. With transit, freight, on-demand delivery, micro-mobility, shared mobility, and the good old-fashioned personal car all vying for curb space, someone has to herd the cats, right? That wasn’t quite the same story for the layperson. People understood my job description but they didn’t understand how my work affected them outside of residential or metered parking (make more, same price!). Then came the COVID-19 pandemic and stay-at-home orders in response.
The demand for curb space was already on the rise pre-COVID, fueled by on-demand delivery services (ODDS) such as Uber Eats, GrubHub, and Postmates. Naturally, this demand ballooned under government orders prohibiting indoor dining as business owners had to accommodate operations for customers who could only pick up food and may even be averse to walking inside. Thankfully, the digital infrastructure supporting carry-out/delivery was in full swing, particularly among restaurants. In 2019, DDOT conducted a research study to collect data on users of pre-registered curbside space primarily for freight and micro-freight. During the three-month study, DDOT found that ODDS at least doubled all other users with the exception of private vehicles for non-commercial uses. Additionally, private users had similar usage patterns as ODDS. (Note: The locations chosen for the study were selected because of high ODDS activity so selection bias was considered in our analysis.)
The pandemic forced re-imagination of public spaces, particularly the curbside. Suddenly, everyone had an interest in it for safe, quick access to life’s necessities, either directly or by delivery driver. Demand for the Curb The pandemic forced re-imagination of public spaces, particularly the curbside. Suddenly, everyone had an interest in it for safe, quick access to life’s necessities, either directly or by delivery driver. The economic case for new curbside operations is one that now has tangible effects for the ordinary user as we seek to survive this emergency and find a new normal. 10 PARKING & MOBILITY / FEBRUARY 2021 / PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG
But what about the physical infrastructure to support ODDS and other operations? DDOT launched a pick-up/ drop-off (PUDO) zone pilot in 2017 to address safety issues along curbsides where quick access for loading was in high demand. DDOT installed about two dozen zones across the District by 2019, many in areas with high concentrations of restaurants. That wouldn’t be nearly enough, as shown by the 80+ permits issued for temporary restaurant pick-up zones in the first week of the shutdown in March. Double the number of permits for those zones were active as of mid-November plus another dozen for non-essential retail curbside pick-up. Even more permits for streateries, or curb lane dining areas, have been issued to businesses including restaurants that previously had no outdoor seating.
SHUTTERSTOCK / ALEXANDER OGANEZOV
Piloting the Zones
