2022 Movability Annual Report

2022 included a return to in-person events, including the Annual Mobility Breakfast and the Movability Summit, both of which had record attendance numbers. Regional gamification challenges also returned in the spring and fall. Movability's events calendar included virtual events in partnership with other organizations and member-exclusive gatherings.

"Our upcycled bike racks are a great fit for our mission to foster conservation and reuse through creativity, education, and community building. The racks have made it easier for our employees, volunteers, and shoppers to commute to our center by bike securely and conveniently. Our employees, in particular, have told us that the new racks and the pump and tools/supplies make them feel well cared for and confident that they can get to and from work by bike more confidently."

-Jenn Evans, Executive Director, Austin Creative Reuse, a GoGrant recipient

In 2022 the region continued to see changes in mobility and transportation demand management (TDM) trends. A growing workforce increasingly living and commuting across multiple counties, together with shifting demographics among commuters who travel to work in person, has led to a new direction in Movability's programs.

While white-collar, downtown businesses continued to work with Movability to provide robust commute options to their employees, we also tailored programs to reach organizations whose employees don't have many mobility resources.

The pilot MovePass initiative and a revised GoGrant program in particular are bringing TDM resources to smaller businesses and organizations whose employees and clients may not have consistent access to vehicles, or who face barriers to learning and using the transit system.

Movability conducts community research and surveys within our membership to better understand mobility trends and demands.

As the impacts of the pandemic abated, downtown Austin returned to a pre-pandemic level of automotive and pedestrian traffic. Yet for storefront businesses, hiring and retaining employees remained difficult. Downtown storefront businesses face an added staffing challenge in that most cannot provide sufficient parking resources for their employees. Retailers and storefront businesses in other parts of the city - areas with as many commute options and more affordable parking - are better able to attract and retain employees. The Downtown Austin Alliance (DAA) asked Movability to engage with these downtown storefront businesses to analyze their commuter mobility challenges and develop potential solutions.

Through a focus group and outreach conducted in person and electronically, Movability gathered information and made a set of recommendations to the DAA regarding better commute options for downtown storefront and retail employees.

Movability made six recommendations for helping downtown retail and storefront businesses improve commute options for their employees:

1. Increase parking flexibility
2. Provide subsidized transportation
3. Expand mobility-on-demand options for late-night shift employees
4. Build educational programming targeted at businesses and their employees to improve awareness of existing mobility options
5. Identify or create high security locations for bike parking
6. Create a Get There Central Texas subnetwork for downtown businesses that the DAA could subsidize and promote

Movability communicates with its members and the general public through its website, four social media channels, and two newsletters – one exclusively for members and one for all subscribers. In April 2022 Movability launched a channel on Instagram and began to grow a base of followers through contests and other online engagement.

In early 2022 Movability said goodbye to our former Program Manager Anton Cox and welcomed Alex Vogt as our new program manager. Former intern Alex Terrazas came on board as a part-time Communications Assistant.

Our board also saw some changes: founding board member and former board Chair Joe Cantalupo retired from the Movability board, board members Rob Spillar and Sam Sargent left the board upon transitioning to new positions, and we welcomed several new board members.

2022 was a year of growth in partnerships.

Movability offered annual sponsorships for the first time in 2022, giving members an additional way to engage with Central Texas businesses and mobility providers.

Movability staff continued attending in-person conferences and events. Staff members took on panelist and workshop roles at the Association of Commuter Transportation's Annual International Conference, which meant some conference expenses were waived.

The biggest financial change of 2022 was the transportation demand management contract with the City of Austin, which will bring in $2 million in revenue over the next five years. For the first two years of the contract, Movability will receive $550,000 annually. The programs that Movability establishes as part of that contractual work are expected to generate additional revenue, and in years three through five the City will pay Movability $300,000 annually. The contract also changed the structure of some Movability programs, including the Mobility Challenge. The jump in revenue on that line item reflects the program's shift from stand-alone program to part of the GoGrant program, which is funded by the municipal contract.