When Cities Say No to New Transportation Technology
From steam carriages to e-scooters and flying cars, new mobility innovations haven’t always been welcomed by cities — for some good reasons.
The road not taken: In the 1880s, steam-powered vehicles were poised to dominate the streets. But city regulations made the explosion-prone machines less attractive.
Photographer: Hulton Archive/Hulton Archive via Getty Images
Last December, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced that the city would become “an unmistakable leader on urban mobility.” Tech companies designing futuristic “low-noise electric aircraft” — think flying cars — would be invited to join a new, first-of-its-kind Urban Air Mobility Partnership that L.A. would help launch through Urban Movement Labs, a public-private organization closely tied to the mayor’s office.
The popular response was skeptical, to put it mildly. Curbed’s Alissa Walker was dismissive: “City leaders are, once again, distracted by (the extremely uncertain prospect of) a shiny, whirring object while ignoring the most basic, everyday transportation needs of regular Angelenos.” University of Southern California urban planning professor Geoff Boeing was even more blunt: “Oh FFS why can’t the mayor and LADOT give us something actually useful like a coherent network of protected bike lanes or bus only lanes?” he tweeted. Others noted that the flying car that already exists, the helicopter, inspires near-universal loathing among city residents.