2024 Movability Annual Report

2024 was a year of growth for Movability events, from tabling and speaking engagements to networking and happy hours.

The  Movability Quarterly  networking series continued in 2024. This fast-pitch Pecha-Kucha-style event welcomes regional thought leaders for networking and conversations. Participants have 20 slides x 20 seconds to present best practices, new research, product offerings, program updates, funding opportunities or emerging solutions in the mobility space.

 The Movability Breakfast  takes place annually in February. The 2024 event publicly recognized and celebrated Best Workplaces for Commuters employers. The 2024 event also marked Movability’s 10th consecutive year of hosting the Movability Breakfast. The event took place at the Austin Central Library on Feb. 7 and drew approximately 200 attendees.

 The Movability Summit  is a signature annual event that offers networking and panel discussions about mobility and transportation challenges. In 2024 the Summit included two panels: "The Rise of Micro-Transit in Central Texas" and "Tolling Authorities in Texas and Their Work Beyond Traditional Toll Roads." The event took place on Sept. 19 with approximately 180 attendees.

Movability’s work with the City of Austin includes the collection and analysis of TDM data regarding travel behaviors, community needs, and potential impacts of implemented TDM strategies.

Movability hired ETC Institute in June 2023 to develop the methodology and conduct the first survey, with a goal of 900 responses spread between Hays, Travis, and Williamson Counties.

The survey data shows areas of opportunity for greater regional mode split. While it’s not a surprise that the density of transit services and bicycle infrastructure in Travis County have led to higher reported use of those modes in Travis County, carpooling use is also lower in Williamson County than in Hays County, which has even less transit service. At the same time, vanpooling is the least used mode across all three counties surveyed. Given the transportation construction disruptions that will impact residents in the survey area, messaging, programming, and incentives for shared mobility may be timely.

 Read the full 2023 Commuter Survey Findings Here 

With questions updated to better represent mode split, Movability and ETC began the 2024 Commuter Survey distribution in October 2024, with final results expected in the spring of 2025.

In 2024, Movability introduced the Carbon Cred app as the primary trip-logging tool for Get There Central Texas, which offered users the opportunity to automatically track commutes.

To understand how Carbon Cred would work for those already logging trips as part of Get There Central Texas, Movability invited a group of approximately 350 active program participants to download Carbon Cred, try it out, and share their feedback about their experiences and initial impressions. Among those invited, 56 downloaded the app, 12 registered for a virtual focus group hosted on Zoom, and eight (8) individuals ultimately participated in the focus group. Participants used Mentimeter to share answers for multiple choice, open-ended, ranked, and word cloud questions. Some questions also included live discussion.

 Read the full Carbon Cred report here 

As part of Movability’s contractual work with the City of Austin, work began in 2024 to better understand how businesses in Mueller, a dense and well populated community that has been experiencing explosive growth, are being impacted by parking and traffic issues.

Movability staff block-walked through Mueller’s business districts in April 2024 to gather email addresses, raise awareness about the study, and to gather direct feedback about priority mobility concerns. Movability then sent a survey to more than 90 business contacts and hosted an in-person focus group at the Mueller-based Origin Hotel on August 1, 2024, to better understand parking and traffic issues impacting those businesses. Movability invited Catellus representatives to participate in the focus group and share the survey, and notified the developer of the outreach and research being conducted.

 Read the full Mueller report here 

Movability continued to grow audiences on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn through storytelling, live-streamed events, and a strategic focus on boosted campaigns. A shift in management and algorithms on X, formerly known as Twitter, resulted in a drop in followers on that platform in the last quarter of 2024.

Movability also streamlined its newsletters, merging "Let's Go News" and "Get There Central Texas News" into one monthly newsletter. With that shift, we were better able to differentiate content for the distinct audiences that receive each newsletter.

In 2024 Movability staff and board updated Movability's mission to better reflect our work in the community.

Movability's Vision: To encourage affordable mobility solutions that reduce congestion, improve safety, and protect air quality to sustain the economic vitality of our region.

Movability's Mission: Movability is Central Texas’ transportation management association (TMA), working with individuals and organizations to build the region around people, not cars.

Movability also began the process of transitioning from a 501c6 nonprofit organization to a 501c3 nonprofit. This change in status will allow the organization to go after more grant funding, and will allow community members to receive a tax break on donations to Movability.

In 2024 Movability implemented a new sponsorship model, saw an increase in programming, and won several grants. A move to new office space within the Austin Chamber of Commerce's offices also saved money on facility costs.

In 2024 Movability also changed to a new billing process with the City of Austin for work done under the 5-year TDM contract. Work on a new 5-year contract that will take effect in 2026 was underway at the end of 2024.