Columbus, Ohio is named Smart Cities Dive’s city of 2018

Columbus, Ohio has been named City of the Year in the Smart Cities Dive website’s awards for its work on transit and electrification. The US city won the US Department of Transportation’s inaugural Smart City Challenge two years ago – and is rolling out a variety of smart city-related programmes. Smart Cities Dive said the city’s “biggest area of progress this year” has been its increased reliance on electric vehicles (EVs), including in its bus fleet and other government vehicles. City authoritie
December 5, 2018 Read time: 2 mins

Columbus, Ohio has been named City of the Year in the %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external Smart Cities Dive false https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/news/the-smart-cities-dive-awards-for-2018/542281/ false false%> website’s awards for its work on transit and electrification.

The US city won the 324 US Department of Transportation’s inaugural Smart City Challenge two years ago – and is rolling out a variety of smart city-related programmes.

Smart Cities Dive said the city’s “biggest area of progress this year” has been its increased reliance on electric vehicles (EVs), including in its bus fleet and other government vehicles.

City authorities have announced that they are more than halfway to a goal of 300 EVs in public fleets by 2020, and says that adoption of EVs throughout the city is up 65% from 2017.

The award also reflects Columbus’ embrace of dockless bikes and scooters, and the addition of bus rapid transit (BRT) through the downtown area on one of the busiest routes operated by the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA).

COTA also collaborated with the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission on the C-pass intiatives, giving free bus travel to 45,000 employees who work downtown.

Meanwhile, the Smart Cities Dive Deal of the Year award went to 8789 Lyft’s %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external acquisition false http://www.itsinternational.com/categories/utc/news/lyft-and-motivate-intend-to-implement-bike-share-systems-across-us/ false false%> of Motivate, which “helped level the playing field” between Lyft and 8336 Uber after the latter bought dockless bike-share company Jump.

Disruptor of the Year was given to dockless bike provider Lime, which launched in 2017 and now has a presence in more than 100 markets worldwide – and this year branched out by unveiling a car-share programme in %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external Seattle false # false false%>.

Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • OCTA launches on-demand microtransit service
    November 16, 2018
    The Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) has launched an on-demand microtransit programme to help better match public transit services with how commuters want to travel. The one-year pilot, called OC Flex, will allow riders to take an eight-person shuttle between two zones – one in Huntington Beach and the northern city of Westminster and the other in three cities: Mission Viejo, Aliso Viejo and Laguna Niguel. Lisa Bartlett, OCTA chairwoman, says: "We hope that this innovative alternative will h
    Read More
  • Pilomat improves road block surface product
    March 21, 2018
    Italian firm Pilomat is showing off the latest version of its surface-mounted hydraulic road blocker at Intertraffic. Designed to increase security at access points to residential, commercial and industrial areas, the Road Blocker Surface has been made more functional and safe with “aesthetical and mechanical improvements”, the company says. It is now “compact and easy to integrate into any urban space”. The first prototype was displayed at the last edition of Intertraffic two years ago. It previously ha
    Read More
  • Vision Show and Conference 2016
    March 9, 2016
    The Vision Show, North America’s largest vision and imaging trade show and conference, will be held in Boston, Massachusetts at the Hynes Convention Center, 3-5 May 2016. Founded by AIA in 1996, The Vision Show provides vision users, system integrators, machine builders and OEMs with access to the latest vision and imaging technologies and applications from nearly over 100 leading manufacturers, distributors and suppliers from around the world. The accompanying conference features in-depth tutorials
    Read More
  • The Vision Show and Conference to be held in Boston, May 3-5, 2016
    March 8, 2016
    The Vision Show, North America’s largest vision and imaging trade show and conference, will be held in Boston, Massachusetts at the Hynes Convention Center, 3-5 May 2016. Founded by AIA in 1996, The Vision Show provides vision users, system integrators, machine builders and OEMs with access to the latest vision and imaging technologies and applications from nearly over 100 leading manufacturers, distributors and suppliers from around the world.
    Read More

Highlighted Content