I (Dan Sturges) will be launching a new initiative to significantly improve mobility options in our many (U.S.) lower density more suburban (“thin”) cities - to reduce automobile dependency up ahead. There are a multitude of great people, companies, government agencies, and organizations working in this area, but unfortunately we are only making incremental progress at this time :(

Note: My primary work through 2024 (and longer) is focused on our Acorn (Robox) startup, but I will begin putting a limited amount of time into The Multimobility Project this summer (2024) with our planned Co-Dzn test (planned to take place over 2 Saturdays in Denver).

Daniel Sperling, a top expert on mobility + the planet said (in Dec. 2023):

“We are not making much progress in shifting away from the Car Monoculture at all”

I will be creating “The Multimobility Project” (MMP), which will start as a small crowdfunded project (soon on Patreon), focusing on enabling households in thin cities to eliminate a second automobile, in exchange for a local vehicle coupled with various mobility extensions (public transit, new transit service(s) and “Far Car” - carsharing services) enabling people to extend their mobility across their larger city or region as needed.

MMP will ultimately aim to have 4 areas of work: (1) neighborhood engagement (demos + more), (2) pilots, (3) expos (fairs + education), and (4) co-design projects, all aiming to imagine + implement this better mobility + sub|urban future.

My intention is for the eventual public-facing regional “mobility lab” to be called:

TRANSPO

I am incredibly fortunate to have the following Advisors supporting me and MMP:

Dave Brook, Founded first the Carshare company in U.S. (1997 - Portland Carshare - acquired by Flexcar, which was later acquired by Zipcar). A friend + collaborator since 2000.

Drew Takahashi, Former Colossal Pictures owner, Creative Director | Filmmaker. Drew Co-directed A Trip to Infinity on Netflix (2022) - Drew directed 10 animation studios from around the world on this super-fun documentary - which won him an Emmy! A great friend of mine+ collaborator since 2000.

Matt Benjamin, Principal Fehr & Peers. Matt has been a friend and collaborator since 2012.  He has spent his career re-envisioning transportation networks and individual streets to create spaces for transportation polyculture to emerge.     

Jay Shuster, Production Designer - Pixar animation. Jay is an amazing artist and designer, who has worked on creating new characters (and futuristic vehicles) for films for nearly 3 decades. Jay was the designer Wall-E (character), and many other characters from Pixar movies. He designed the Pod Racer in Star Wars Episode One, among many other futuristic designs. He is a supporter of the MMP upcoming co-design project.

Gregory Crichlow - Adjunct Faculty at University of Colorado Denver, Chocolate Spokes - equitable transportation

Susan Engleking, A NEV advocate, author of Tiny Transit, Economic Development leader - Austin TX.

Mike Paritee, Former General Motors engineer and program manager for GM’s early EV programs. Focused on multimobility innovation, new ventures since 2007.

Jeff Wood, Lead alternative mobility + urban design information source. Jeff aggregates thousands of articles each year, sending updates to his diverse network of subscibers in the space. A master at getting the right info to those that are working on these mobility + sub|urban improvements.

Doug Frasher, former Volvo Design leader, with both mechanical engineering and Art Center transportation (car design) degree. Doug is now exploring opportunities to improve mobility system simulation, to help advance us to far better mobility systems.

Brad Evans, Key Support at Zeppelin Development (TAXI). Brad is a Change Agent in Denver, creator of the Cruiser Ride, which brings thousands of Denver residents out for a bike ride on Thursday nights in the summer. Brad has many innovative ideas for making Denver a far better place to live. (MMP will launch in Denver in summer 2024).