Smart Enough Cities: Governments That Seek Mobility Data Must Respect Individual Privacy

The rise of shared mobility services, including rideshare and micro-mobility options such as bicycles and electric scooters, poses new challenges for cities and states. They must manage new kinds of traffic, keep streets and sidewalks safe and accessible, and ensure that transportation services are equitably distributed. In order to make these decisions, local governments are compelling service providers to disclose records about where their users travel, when, and the routes they take. In order to safeguard their constituents’ privacy, policymakers should minimize the type and quantity of compelled data disclosure. In particular, this report argues that localities collect only aggregated data reflecting shared mobility service usage as opposed to compelling individual trip-level data. For localities that fail to heed this advice, this report also offers recommendations that seek to uphold the privacy interests of consumers and mitigate the legal risks to state and local governments.