It’s been a busy few weeks as we put together the final touches before March 3rd’s Curbivore conference in Downtown LA. You’ve seen some of our exciting speakers, you’ve learned about our location and unique build-out, you’ve heard from all the amazing partners that are bringing their cutting-edge technology to the event.

But part of what really makes these events so special is the community - not just the people on stage, but the folks you meet over lunch, the conversations you strike up with your fellow attendees, the new partnerships you forge when you see someone sharing an “ah ha” moment with you…

Scrolling through some of the registrants so far, I want to pull out some of the fascinating organizations that will be attending next month. I’m not playing any favorites here, so let’s just think of this as a random sampling, organized alphabetically:

Alphabet, Bluemark Logistics, C3, Cartken, Coco, Converge, Crunchbase, CSUN, DLIVRD, Duffl, EVgo, Farmer’s Fridge, Fehr & Peers, Fooda, FULFLLD, GoFlyy, GoLocker, Grubhub, Hyrecar, INRIX, Intersection, ItsaCheckmate, Kitchen Data Systems, Launch Mobility, Locale, Maxine's Heavenly Products, Ottonomy, Passport, Pipedream Labs, Roaming Hunger, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, Santa Monica City, Shared Use Mobility Center, Shinstarr (a Korean foodservice group, Curbivore has truly gone global!), Sodexo, Stantec, Starship, Street Stop, Super Capital, Sutra Research, Thirst & Growl, TriNet, UCLA, Vebu Labs, Wingz, Y-Risk, Yummy.com, Zoba.

And with hundreds more already registered, we’ve basically got the whole alphabet covered! Except X; if your company’s name starts with X, the first person to email us and will get a free ticket, for the sake of completionism.

Last but not least, we’ll be making some more exciting announcements next week, including big name speakers, and splashy programming options. But if you’re committed to the curb, buy your ticket today. Anyone that uses code “YIELDMANAGEMENT” by EOD Friday will save $50.

Register Now

HOT INDUSTRY NEWS & GOSSIP

Feds make it rain! The big story of the past twelve months might be that while VC fun money has slowed, Uncle Sam has really opened up the taps. Most of these investments are looking particularly prudent, including a fresh $800 million in USDOT Safe Streets for All grant money, which will make for livable, shoppable streets in cities as varied as Detroit, Riverside, Portland, Raleigh, and 506 other communities nationwide. Federal investments were a key theme in this week’s State of the Union, where President Biden touted domestic manufacturing gains, as well as new American-made requirements for the country’s ongoing infrastructure boom. Local governments aren’t all looking quite so flush, unfortunately; certain transit operators are staring at budgetary black holes, with San Francisco’s MUNI looking particularly troubled.

Al fresco distressed-o: Can we let out a collective groan, as the City of LA looks to add new fees and restrictions to its beloved “LA Al Fresco” outdoor dining system… The city should be applauded for getting the program up and running so quickly and flexibly during the depths of the pandemic, so why stymie a program that’s enabled so many local businesses to thrive, while enlivening streets across the region? Fingers crossed the final ordinance can perhaps look to Toronto, where the city council’s finalized CafeTO program has received support from the local small business community.

Big news from some of our 2023 partners: Uber Eats outperforms expectations, thanks in part to “Uber One” subscriptions driving increased frequency and spend. CurbIQ and SCAG share curb management strategies in new webinar. Lyft goes back to the future, brings docks to shared micromobility. Itselectric’s Tiya Gordon talks curbside EV charging with Harry.

The EV revolution won’t have four wheels… Eliminating dirty two stroke engines from the developing good will do so much for both the environment and local health outcomes. That’s why it’s exciting to see India’s Zypp Electric raise $25 million to deploy a whopping 200,000 electric mopeds. And closer to home, CARB is looking to incentivize e-bike purchases for lower income Californians.

Parking “science”: UCLA’s Professor Michael Manville tears apart the latest ITE Parking Generation Manual. Take a look and weep to see the two “data points” that force municipalities to insist on hyper-specific parking minimums for businesses as specialized as an adult cabaret.

Up or down? Chipotle is noting that delivery orders fell 15% in Q4; while Uber Eats (as mentioned) saw gross bookings jump 6% and Uber’s top-line revenue beat expectations at $8.6 billion. Maybe it’s just burrito fatigue?

The wheels fell off… Micromobility operator Wheels was recently acquired by Helbiz, and some fresh tweets show how dire the company’s situation was. In 2021, the company posted a net loss of $32 million, off of $9.7M in revenue. By late last year, the company was down to just $200k in cash / cash equivalents on hand. I will say, they were pretty fun little vehicles to ride!

Efficiency, efficiency, efficiency: Amazon isn’t exactly known for being profligate, but CEO Andy Jassy is hammering home the need to be extra spendthrift after the ecommerce giant posted its first annual loss since 2014. Expect less in the way of additional job cuts, more in terms of increased operational efficiency and a slowed expansion of ancillary businesses like Fresh.

Another link or two, or eleven: New data (research paper) proves what we’ve been hammering home for a while now - America’s ability to build infrastructure has worsened over the past few decades. LA’s B Line (née Red Line) turns 30! Harry talks to BIB Technologies’ Deloss Pickett about the Automato. OakDOT’s former head shares mobility lessons on the #CitiesFirst podcast. StreetsFor All flags key issues for Angelenos. Curb mismanagement in Missouri. Restaurant workers flee for better paying jobs. Watch the IE transform into warehouse-opolis. Cava hopes to shake IPO slump. Yes, please.

See you in a few weeks!

- Jonah Bliss & The Curbivore Crew