Shared mobility data helps local governments in Denver region collaborate on transportation budget

The Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) is comprised of leaders from Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder and Jefferson Counties working together to establish guidelines, set policy and allocate funding in the areas of transportation and personal mobility.

With shared scooters and bikes growing as mobility options, DRCOG, regional partner agencies, and local governments needed to analyze data, pull metrics, and see real-time street information quickly on an ongoing basis.

Standard practice in many regions is for cities to develop and execute transportation programs on their own. This limits the ability to benefit from information and resource sharing; each agency reinvents the wheel its neighbor next door had just spent a lot of time and effort developing. This also means a lack of consistency around how core metrics are calculated, meaning apples are compared to oranges when looking at regional or statewide statistics.

“Our member governments wanted to address shared micromobility data in a consistent way so that we weren't developing all of these resources and roles from scratch every time a new program launched," says Lindsey, DRCOG's Transportation Technology Strategist. “Local governments in the Denver region have a long history of collaboration and coordination. When shared micromobility came to the region, we were presented with an opportunity to continue these efforts.”

DRCOG and its member governments saw an opportunity to take a more coordinated approach to data management while avoiding the need for each agency to develop in-house expertise or go through their own procurement process. DRCOG decided to procure a set of data tools that the whole region could use.

DRCOG shares information across jurisdictions and agencies, while better understanding shared micromobility in the region by using RideReport.

Agency staff tracked down historic and current data from operators in the Denver region. Each participating agency has a unique dashboard view customized to its own interests. Agencies are able to glean real time and historic insights into shared micromobility in the region, including reports and visualizations that once had taken weeks of manual analysis to put together. Staff from across the region, regardless of their perspective, role, or interest area, now have the same source of truth for shared micromobility data.The shared dashboard allows operators to view the same metrics through their version of the dashboard, which they can utilize to implement new policy.

Partner agencies in the Denver region have been able to better understand more about the different tools, capabilities and metrics needed to enable micromobility data sharing. “It has been exciting to bring our vision of cross-jurisdictional and multi-agency data sharing to life," says Lindsey.

Now, when a new shared micromobility program in the region launches, DRCOG members have a ready-made playbook for them to plug into and manage data.