The City of Tulsa is at an exciting and pivotal moment in its growth and evolution. Under the mayor’s leadership, the Office of Performance Strategy and Innovation convened a cross-disciplinary collective of engineers, academics, planners, advocates, nonprofits, philanthropic organizations, and business leaders to “develop a policy and technical action plan to lower barriers for emerging transportation technology in the City.” This project seeks to move forward from this work to develop a mobility innovation strategy and plan of action. By engaging citizens and creating a consensus approach, Tulsa can become a leader on smart mobility and solve transportation problems affecting Tulsans.
This project also aims to develop smart mobility solutions around challenges that affect Tulsans and our city. These include issues such as equitable access to jobs and education, improving quality of life, ensuring Tulsans have access to the emerging transportation options, and letting old and new transportation companies know that Tulsa is open for business and ready to partner in ways that improve the city and life of Tulsans.
Smart mobility is automated, connected, electric, and/or shared. It aims to improve user convenience, cost, and safety while reducing congestion and pollution by leveraging breakthroughs in technology. Smart mobility technology is used in many facets of transportation, from traveler information about travel time and traffic conditions available through apps like Waze, to traffic management and safety innovations such as traffic cameras. You may already be familiar with some elements of smart mobility, such as apps including Uber and Lyft, electric vehicle chargers currently being installed around Oklahoma, or scooter and bike share options around downtown. Other technologies, such as autonomous (self-driving) vehicles, are newer and are being tested in cities around the world.
When most people think of self-driving vehicles, they tend to think of something like the car they currently own, but able to drive itself. In reality, these technologies include a wide variety of vehicle types including low speed delivery robots, low speed driverless shuttles, and ride hailing services like Waymo.
With so many exciting transportation innovations on the horizon, the Mobility Innovation Strategy will evaluate Tulsa’s readiness and capacity for these impending changes and how new technologies can be integrated into the city’s systems to enhance life for all Tulsans. .
Tulsa has launched its new Mobility Innovation Framework!
Over the past few years, the City has been working hard with a broad range of stakeholders to develop a policy and technical action plan that aims to lower barriers for deploying emerging transportation technologies in the city. Tulsa is a clear national leader in many areas of mobility, with a strong network of transit, biking, walking, shared rides, and shared vehicle options, but now is the time for the City to increase its momentum and further expand its networks to include microtransit, electric vehicles, and eventually, autonomous vehicles. These new components will enhance the city’s networks and better connect Tulsans to jobs, healthcare, education, healthy foods, recreation, and more. We understand that many Tulsans will still want to drive their car, regardless of other options. But we also acknowledge that our current system does not serve all Tulsans well. This plan outlines a framework for a transportation system that all Tulsans can access and which leverages new advances in transportation technologies to improve the city for everyone regardless of age, income, and ability.
Tulsa is proud to share the finalized Tulsa Mobility Innovation Strategy. This plan is rich with information resulting from a deep investigation into four innovation areas for the City’s transportation system: (1) Mobility Innovation and Equity, (2) Mobility Innovation Policy, (3) Mobility Innovation Economy, and (4) Mobility Innovation Partnerships. Through these lenses, a comprehensive set of strategies have been tailored to address specific challenges and opportunities, both for their independent and collective impact. This document is not meant to be read cover to cover; its sections are relevant to particular stakeholders, including practitioner checklists/best practice guidance in the four innovation areas, and an overall recommended implementation approach. The report is also accompanied by an Executive Summary which provides a brief overview of the MIS and highlights details about the prioritized projects the City has selected for advancing the Mobility Innovation approach. With these projects—coupled with next generation planning, policy, and pilots—we will make Tulsa a hub of mobility innovation regionally and nationally, attracting talent, employers and jobs that will transform transportation and our world.
The City is excited to begin mobilizing immediately, carrying forward the excellent cross-sector and cross-jurisdiction collaboration and partnerships which have been built throughout the development of this plan. We look forward to your voice taking part in the discussions that will continue to evolve Tulsa as an inclusive and well-connected place to live, work and visit.
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