ITS Berkeley

Road Usage Charging (RUC)

Forscher, Teddy
Bayen, Alexandre, PhD
Shaheen, Susan, PhD
2018

Pricing transportation infrastructure, either to achieve a desired outcome or to raise revenue, is a concept dating back to early-and mid-20thcentury economics and transportation scholarship. Different approaches to pricing (e.g., area-wide pricing, vehicle miles traveled, express lanes, etc.) have been adopted in parts of Europe and Asia; some strategies cover all road users, some only passenger vehicles, and others only commercial and goods movement vehicles. Pricing, as a revenue source, has recently gained momentum in the U.S., driven by federal legislation (MAP-21; FAST Act) and state...

Preserving Privacy in Road User Charge (RUC) Architectures

Bayen, Alexandre, PhD;
Forscher, Teddy
Shaheen, Susan, PhD
2018

One of the major concerns for the technical implementation of a RUC is the ability to collect the mileage of motorists in a way that preserves and protects individual privacy. With the widespread use of connected devices/smartphones and the growth of connected vehicles and the existence of toll tag readers, it is possible to build and deploy architectures capable of computing advanced fee structures (based upon on mileage, road type, time of day, and speed, among other features) that respect motorist privacy. A possible architecture can rely on the use of virtual trip lines (VTLs) –a...

Impacts of Shared Mobility

Shaheen, Susan, PhD
Cohen, Adam
2018

Shared mobility modes have reported a number of environmental, social, and transportation-related impacts. Several studies have documented the reduction of vehicle usage, ownership, and vehicle miles traveled (VMT). Cost savings and convenience are frequently cited as popular reasons for shifting to a shared mode. Shared modes can also extend the catchment area of public transit, potentially playing a pivotal role in bridging gaps in existing transportation networks and encouraging multi-modality by addressing the first-and-last mile issue related to public transit access (1). Shared...

Pooling Passengers and Services

Forscher, Teddy
Shaheen, Susan, PhD
2018

In the past ten years, passenger and goods movement transportation systems have evolved rapidly. Shared mobility providers are filling gaps in service and creating new markets for delivery; vehicle fleets continue to electrify; and pooled services are increasing vehicle occupancy. The uptake of innovative pooled services, as well as automation, promise to continue the trend of transformative change. As the private sector continues to advance, there is a great need for institutional flexibility in managing and coordinating all users of transportation infrastructure, particularly on the...

Overview of Shared Mobility

Shaheen, Susan, PhD
Cohen, Adam
2018

Shared mobility—the shared use of a vehicle, bicycle, or other travel mode—is an innovative transportation strategy that enables users to have short-term access to a transportation mode on an as-needed basis (1). Shared mobility includes various service models and transportation modes that meet diverse traveler needs. Shared mobility can include roundtrip services (vehicle, bicycle, or other travel mode is returned to its origin); one-way station-based services (vehicle, bicycle, or other mode is returned to a different designated station location); and one-way free-floating services (...

Shared Mobility Policies for California

Shaheen, Susan, PhD
Cohen, Adam
2018

In recent years, economic, environmental, and social forces have quickly given rise to the “sharing economy,” a collective of entrepreneurs and consumers leveraging technology to share resources, save money, and generate capital. Shared mobility—the shared use of a vehicle, bicycle, or other low-speed travel mode—is an innovative transportation strategy that enables users to have short-term access to a transportation mode on an as-needed basis. Business-to-consumer services, such as Zipcar and car2go, and peer-to-peer carsharing and shared ride services, such as Getaround, Turo, Lyft, and...

What Can You Do with a County Road that You Can’t Afford to Maintain?

Jones, David
2017

Many rural county road networks were created at a time when funding was greater and rural populations were often larger than they are today. Eventually, surface treatments such as chip seals or thin asphalt were applied to many of these gravel roads to provide them with an all‐weather surface. These treated surfaces were also desirable because conventional gravel roads are dusty, often develop wash boarding quickly, and have high rates of gravel loss—which result in unsafe and uncomfortable conditions and greater damage to vehicles and crops. A solution to this problem is called ‘unpaving...

Impacts of Shared Mobility: Pooling

Shaheen, Susan, PhD
Cohen, Adam
2018

Shared-ride services—transportation modes that allow riders to share a ride to a common destination—include various forms of ridesharing (carpooling and vanpooling); ridesplitting and taxisplitting; and microtransit. With the proliferation of smartphones and mobile Internet, it has become more convenient to share rides. Shared-ride services are having a transformative impact on many global cities by increasing vehicle occupancy through smartphone apps. Empirical and anecdotal evidence indicates that pooling provides numerous benefits, such as reductions in energy consumption and emissions...

Smartphone Applications and Data Impacting Transportation

Shaheen, Susan, PhD
Cohen, Adam
2018

Demographic shifts, improvements in computing power and mapping technology, the use of cloud computing, and changes in wireless communication —coupled with the growth of data availability and data sharing —are changing the way people travel. Increasingly, mobility consumers are turning to smartphone “apps” for a wide array of transportation activities including: vehicle routing, real-time data on congestion, information regarding roadway incidents and construction, parking availability, and real-time transit arrival predictions. Travel time savings (e.g., high occupancy vehicle lanes...

Innovative Mobility: Carsharing Outlook

Shaheen, Susan, PhD
Cohen, Adam
Jaffee, Mark
2018

Peer-to-peer (P2P) carsharing employs privately owned vehicles made temporarily available for shared use by an individual or members of a P2P carsharing network. Expenditures, such as insurance, are generally covered by the P2P operator during the access period. In exchange for providing the service, operators keep a portion of the usage fee. Members can access vehicles through a direct key or combination transfer from the owner or through operator-installed technology that enables “unattended access.” Although P2P carsharing is more commonplace in the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Germany...