We’re working to improve curbside access in Seattle as part of a national effort to develop new digital tools and provide data-driven insights

Magnetic and light sensors detect when a vehicle takes a place at the curb. Our teams installed this equipment in April 2021 in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood. Photo credit: SDOT

The situation

While it may not be the first thing that springs to mind when thinking of transportation infrastructure, curb space plays a crucial role in our system for activities such as package delivery, passenger pickup and drop-off, and other loading and unloading needs.

As our city and region continues to grow, efficient use of curb space becomes all the more important alongside increasing demand for deliveries during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. There are currently more than 5,000 distinct curbside loading zones throughout the city of Seattle that residents and businesses rely on to deliver and receive a wide array of packages, products, supplies and groceries to meet the needs of community members and businesses .

Two trucks parked to deliver bread and other supplies to local businesses in Seattle's Pioneer Square neighborhood.  The truck on the left is yellow and the truck on the right is white.  Large buildings can be seen in the background and the street in the foreground.Two trucks parked to deliver bread and other supplies to local businesses in Seattle’s Pioneer Square neighborhood. Photo credit: SDOT

The challenge

Despite the seemingly large number of curbside loading zones in Seattle, delivery drivers can often find it difficult to find one of these loading zones because the spaces are already occupied, the spaces are too small, or they may not be able to find a zone near their destination.

When delivery trucks and other vehicles have to spend time looking for a usable space, it can mean double parking and sometimes blocking bike, bus or general traffic lanes, as well as increased congestion, delayed deliveries, reduced air quality and higher costs to customers and community members.

A white FedEx pickup truck is parked in a loading/unloading zone in downtown Seattle.  In the evening, large buildings can be seen in the background, and a man walks down the street with a bag.Parcel delivery vehicles must make frequent stops to drop off their goods at Seattle businesses and homes, including using curbs for loading and unloading. Photo credit: SDOT

Meet the challenge – with advanced data!

To address this ongoing challenge, we have partnered with other cities and private companies across the country, all with a common goal of improving accessibility and productivity of our limited curb space. These efforts are currently led and coordinated by the Open Mobility Foundation (OMF), an open source non-profit organization creating a governance structure around open source mobility tools. This collaboration identified the need to create a standardized way to digitally define our loading zones and measure their effectiveness.

The result of this collaboration over the past 14+ months is the creation of a new open-source Curb Data Specification (CDS), co-authored by more than 160 people from public transit companies, curb users and technology companies. We anticipate that the CDS will be a helpful part of our overall response to addressing delivery challenges in the city. Beyond Seattle, other US cities and local governments plan to use this specification in curb pilot programs and even around the world. A beta (test) version of the CDS will be released shortly.

Logo for the Curb Data Specification (CDS). Photo credit: Open Mobility Foundation

So what is a “CDS” and how does it work? Great questions!

At its core, a curb data specification (CDS) is a set of protocols that enable data to be shared more effectively between cities, curb users and curb data providers, allowing better awareness and insights into current curb space usage and how it could potentially be better utilized in the future .

The CDS provides a consistent data standard by leveraging open-source capabilities to address curb space challenges. With the CDS, cities will be able to digitally map curb zones and proactively optimize commercial charging activities for people and goods. We can then directly measure the effectiveness of curbs both individually and on a larger scale.

Once implemented, the CDS will create a publicly available digital representation of the loading zones currently marked by physical signs on our roads today. This digital feed tells a curb user where, when and how long they can park to charge. The CDS also standardizes how we record and measure activity along our curbs, and could tell us in near real time how well a particular loading zone is performing. Are there double parked trucks due to too many deliveries? Is the zone empty most of the day? These are the insights we hope to gain from programming the CDS to how we approach curbside management.

The specification consists of three primary “Application Programming Interfaces” or APIs, which are listed below:

  • Curbs: A way for cities to set a curb and related regulations and share more accurate information with businesses and the public.

Visual example of how curb zones are identified within the Curb Data Specification (CDS).  The graphic features a cartoon-style card with three text callout boxes. A visual example of how curb zones are defined within the CDS. Photo credits: Open Mobility Foundation and Apple

  • Events: Real-time and historical usage data from real-world curbs may be sent to cities, third parties, and/or researchers. This information may come from commercial corporate data feeds, sensors, payments, check-ins, enforcement, or other City data sources. No personally identifiable information is collected or shared through the Events API.
  • Metrics: Calculations to determine how efficiently a curb space is used. This includes how long vehicles are parked (dwell time), how full the slots are throughout the day (occupancy), how many vehicles use the slot (utilization), and other aggregated statistics in curb areas.

What are the potential benefits?

Implementing and scaling the CDS program can offer a number of potential benefits that our team will be happy to evaluate. This contains:

  • Reduced congestion
    • By matching delivery vehicles with the most appropriate curb clearance. The software provides the best route and helps limit circling and reduce double parking.
  • Park better (with real-time data if sensors are present)
    • Read our April 2021 blog post on a study we conducted in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood, including our findings to make parking more accessible and support future uses. The CDS will be able to connect directly to real-time sensors.
  • Improved communication and engagement
    • This system will make it easier for curb users to find and utilize available loading zones, while also serving as a robust, useful tool in community conversations while planning potential changes in the future.
  • More efficient curb management based on more precise data
    • We expect that the improved data that becomes available will help support more effective use of curb space, enabling us to:
      • Support our electrification and climate goals
      • Improve curbspace regulations to increase access for people who need it most
      • Identify unused loading zones that may have more beneficial public uses, such as B. public space, mobility parking spaces, paid parking spaces, transit lanes or cycle paths
  • More flexibility for the future and lower costs thanks to the open source system
    • The open-source and collaborative nature of this effort helps avoid limitation or lock-in to a single vendor, and gives us and other city transportation departments more flexibility to adapt to a rapidly evolving and emerging field of work.
    • The flexibility and predictability of open source and nationally adopted standards will result in lower costs for local governments and therefore the public.

Photo of a family riding their bikes along a protected bike path in Seattle.  A white van can be seen on the left, sidewalk and buildings on the right.We are working hard to balance the community’s needs for safe, accessible, multimodal travel options with providing curbside access for commercial deliveries, loading and unloading in Seattle. Photo credit: SDOT

Next Steps

We will continue to help shape and improve the Curbside Data Specification this year, and our team is working on implementing a publicly accessible interface to better understand and leverage this new dataset as it is implemented.

We look forward to sharing more updates and information as they become available over the coming months. Thanks very much!