State of play: This mismatch of supply and demand has spurred cities and suburbs to think about treating curbs like a public utility and charging for access to them. That includes designating more zones for ride-hail pickup and drop-off, deciding where e-bikes and e-scooters should dock — and charging more when demand is high.

Enter tech: A slew of startups see a golden opportunity to restore order to the curb with maps, data, sensors and apps.

CurbFlow has entered a 3-month pilot project with Washington, D.C.’s Department of Transportation to monitor curbside parking.
Passport, a curbside payment software platform, has pilots in Charlotte, Detroit and Omaha to analyze scooter usage patterns to determine how to charge for curb space.
Inrix, an analytics firm, partnered with nonprofit Open Transport Partnership’s SharedStreets to create a standard for street-level data, including curbs.
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