Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
Austin

10 Cities That Are Getting “Wired Transportation” Right

1:22 PM EST on February 4, 2015

Image: Frontier Group, U.S. Public Interest Research Group
The Frontier Group and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group rated 70 cities on the availability of tech-enabled services like real-time transit information, ride-hailing, and bike-share. These are the top ten.
Image: Frontier Group, U.S. Public Interest Research Group

Which cities are making it easy to catch the next bus without a long wait, hail a ride with an app, or hop on bike-share? According to a new ranking from the Frontier Group and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, Austin is leading the pack when it comes to embracing technological innovation that helps people get around without being tethered to a car.

The research team examined the availability of 11 types of technology-assisted transportation -- like real-time transit information, ride-hailing services, virtual ticketing, multi-modal trip-planning apps, and bike-share -- in 70 U.S. cities.

Some of them have penetrated nearly every market. For example, 68 metros have some form of peer-to-peer car-share that allows vehicle owners to rent their car to other people using services such as RelayRides. Services the authors call "ridesourcing," like Uber and Lyft, are available in 59 cities. Ride-sharing services designed to facilitate carpooling, like those offered by ZimRide or Carma, are only available in five cities.

Some form of bike-share is available in 32 cities, and 47 offer real-time transit data. Only six cities, Austin among them, have "virtual ticketing" that allows transit passengers to purchase rides using smartphones without cash.

A total of 19 cities have what PIRG and Frontier referred to as "abundant choices" -- at least eight of the 11 technologies. These cities are home to a combined 28 million people and tend to skew younger, with greater access to the internet.

Image: Frontier Group/U.S. PIRG
Image: Frontier Group/U.S. PIRG
Image: Frontier Group/U.S. PIRG

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Want a Better 15-Minute City? Ask Residents What They Really Want

A new study from Bogotá models how other cities can ask a deeper set of questions about how to put essential needs within walking, biking or transit distance.

March 19, 2024

Tuesday’s Headlines Win the Gold

Two articles detail efforts in Paris and Los Angeles to put on (relatively) climate-friendly Olympic games in 2024 and 2028.

March 19, 2024

Monday’s Headlines Drink Your Milkshake

How does a president end wasteful subsidies for the highly profitable fossil fuel industry? Many have tried, but none have succeeded, including Joe Biden.

March 18, 2024

How — and Why — To Start a Neighborhood E-Bike Library

American advocates are loaning out e-bikes to their neighbors — and creating flocks of new riders.

March 18, 2024

What Urbanists’ Doug Burgum Lovefest Reveals About the ‘Why’ Behind Our Advocacy

I am far less interested in talking about Gov. Doug Burgum's politics than talking about his values, and how those values shape his urbanism, and thus the actual lives of the people he governs.

March 15, 2024
See all posts