Leveraging the Sharing Economy to Expand Shelter and Transportation Resources in California Evacuations

In 2017 and 2018, California was severely impacted by a number of devastating wildfires that required thousands of people to evacuate. These evacuations were  hampered by poor communication, traffic congestion, and transportation and shelter resource deficiencies. To ensure that all citizens have both transportation and shelter in evacuations, agencies must consider alternative strategies for expanding resources, such as leveraging the sharing economy. To understand the  possibility of leveraging the sharing economy to provide housing and transportation in an evacuation, researchers at the Transportation Sustainability Research Center (TSRC) at University of California, Berkeley, distributed an online survey (n=226) from March to July 2018 to individuals impacted by the 2017 December Southern California wildfires (i.e., the Thomas Fire, Creek Fire, and Skirball Fire) and also collected information on the actions of sharing economy companies in recent California wildfires in 2017 and 2018.