Shift Magazine - October 7, 2019 - 19

QA
W

ant to know what drives
transportation entrepreneur
Robin Chase? On her website there's a statement:
"Every day, create the world you want to
live in."
Chase is best known for co-founding car-sharing company Zipcar in 1999.
Twenty years later, she's still helping to
transform cities.
One way is through the Shared Mobility
Principles for Livable Cities, created in
2017 to guide urban decision-makers in
these times of rapid technology-driven
innovation from the private sector.
Government agencies and mobility
companies worldwide have adopted the
10 principles, the first of which reads: "We
plan our cities and their mobility together.
The way our cities are built determines
mobility needs and how they can be met.
Development, urban design and public
spaces, building and zoning regulations,
parking requirements, and other land
use policies shall incentivize compact,

Bloomberg

WITH
ROBIN CHASE

Zipcar co-founder envisions making cities
more livable using mobility planning guidelines

accessible, livable, and sustainable cities."
Here are edited excerpts of Chase's
email interview with Editor Leslie J. Allen.

Q: HOW DO YOU PERSONALLY
DEFINE A LIVABLE CITY?
A: I conjure up a streetscape and a city
where 8-year-olds and 80-year-olds, and
my past self when I was 16, 21, 35 and 40,
with children and without children, living
on a shoestring budget, or my professional
tightly scheduled self, can get around
easily. Livable implies I travel without
fear for my safety, with enjoyment of my
surroundings, with clean air and low stress.

Q: TO WHAT EXTENT ARE CITIES
PUTTING THE PRINCIPLES INTO
PRACTICE? ANY STANDOUTS?
A: Both Paris and Pittsburgh signed on
early, and it is clear those cities have
taken these ideas to heart. In Paris
they continue to push for efficient use
of public streets by allocating more
lanes to bicycles, taxis and buses, and
making it more inconvenient and slower
for personal cars to be used. Pittsburgh
has just brought in a collective of shared
mobility providers with whom it will
work to make alternatives to personal
car ownership more convenient and
safer in the city, and give vulnerable
populations better and more affordable
choices to travel.
I recently co-founded NUMO, a global
alliance of public- and private-sector organizations working to align actions and
values to create transformational, on-theground change. Part of the alliance's work
is to operationalize the 10 principles.

Q: HOW DO SHARED VEHICLES
FIT IN A LIVABLE LANDSCAPE?
A: Shared personal vehicles are an
important part of a multimodal lifestyle
in our urban future, which is by definition
densely populated. If we want people to
be able to choose the right mode for each
trip instead of going everywhere by their
own car, we need to make walking, biking
and transit safe, convenient and reliable.
And in addition to those choices, we know
that for some trips - off the public transit
grid; or when you are carrying heavy loads,
freight or children; or late at night; or when
you aren't feeling well - a personal car, a
shared personal car, is the best choice. If
we don't offer up a shared-vehicle choice,
people will revert back to owning their
own, which takes up more street storage
space, and which encourages more urban
driving due to sunk costs.

Q: WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE
ABOUT HOW CITIES APPROACH
MOBILITY PLANNING?
A: Remove parking minimums! [Some
cities require parking spaces for new
buildings.] Create a safe bike network.
These are responses to Shared Mobility
Principle 3: Make efficient use of curbs,
lanes, and vehicles.

Q: WHAT ELSE IS ON YOUR
AGENDA?
A: I think we need to press for fair data
requirements across all modes. I don't
want to see shared transport trips have
no privacy protections and private car trips
be the only way you can maintain privacy.
This sends exactly the wrong signals. ■
october 2019 * shift

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Shift Magazine - October 7, 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Shift Magazine - October 7, 2019
