Smart Columbus is launching – or relaunching – three initiatives in Linden and along Cleveland Avenue after a delay caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Mobility hubs with touch-screen kiosks and several options to connect to a COTA route, the Linden LEAP self-driving shuttle and a study of connected vehicle technology are ready to go – all part of the city’s $40 million U.S. Department of Transportation Smart Cities grant.
The public-private initiative is seeking 500 drivers to have connected vehicle sensors and transmitters installed in their personal vehicles, which will provide real-time safety alerts and help decide route changes on the way to a destination. Participants can make as much as $315 for answering periodic surveys during the seven-month study.
The study will collect data transmitted by those drivers as well as more than 500 government and transit vehicles as they travel routes where fixed sensors have been installed: along Cleveland Avenue, between 2nd Avenue and Morse Road, High Street from 5th Avenue to Morse, and Morse from High to Stygler Avenue.
Roadside units start collecting data in August, and onboard vehicle installations will continue through November.
Linden has seven of the 100 intersections with the most traffic crashes in Central Ohio, according to data from the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission. The connected vehicle study will determine whether traffic monitoring and alert technology can reduce collisions.
“Columbus is a great city to take advantage of this innovative technology, and its representative size, density and recent growth make it an ideal template for other similar cities to learn from,” Marcus Welz, president of the Intelligent Traffic Systems division of Siemens Mobility Inc. in North America, said in a statement.
A little less than half of the $5.1 million contract with the Siemens division is paid for by the grant. The study, meant to provide data for other cities to learn from, was supposed to launch in February, but was delayed by the advancing pandemic. Through March 31, $2 million in grant and local match had been spent, including on subcontractors, according to quarterly reports.
For residents without cars, Smart Columbus is seeking ways to make public transportation more efficient and less expensive, such as easing the route to the nearest bus stop.
Six “mobility hubs” now are active, mostly along Cleveland Avenue from the Columbus State Community College campus north of downtown to the Northern Lights area, with an outlier at Easton.
Each hub features an IKE interactive kiosk, a Sasquatch-size touch-screen that provides a wireless internet hot spot plus a variety of apps including trip-planning, business and social services directories, maps and public service announcements. Each also has an emergency call button built into the side.
Made by Columbus-based Orange Barrel Media LLC, the kiosks generate ad revenue, so there’s no cost to Smart Columbus.
Hubs will have a customized mix of transportation options: CoGo Bike Share stations (owned by Lyft Inc.), dockless stations for scooters, e-bikes or car-shares, racks for personal bikes to get to a bus stop, or electric vehicle charging.
Cleveland Avenue hosts COTA’s CMax bus rapid transit line, which skips stops and can control traffic lights in its favor for faster travel times. Central Ohio Transit Authority is keeping fares free because of the pandemic.
The EasyMile self-driving shuttle through Linden, operated by Columbus-based EmpowerBus, is a one-year pilot funded by $1.1 million from the Smart Columbus grant.
The EasyMile self-driving shuttle through Linden, operated by Columbus-based EmpowerBus, is a one-year pilot funded by $1.1 million from the Smart Columbus grant.
The free shuttles stopped running within weeks of starting because a sudden stop injured a passenger’s arm. In May, Smart Columbus agreed with the results of a safety study and announced modifications for when the service could start again.
For now, the vehicles are too small to safely accommodate passengers and an operator because of Covid-19.
Shuttles will be used to deliver free groceries to Rosewind Community Center, previously a shuttle stop. That helps residents who can’t travel to St. Stephen’s Community House, which assembles the food boxes.
The pilot programs will run through the end March, with a final report to U.S. DOT before June.
