Policy

Mobility and the Sharing Economy: Industry Developments and Early Understanding of Impacts

Shaheen, Susan, PhD
Bansal, Apaar
Chan, Nelson
Cohen, Adam
2017

Shared mobility—the shared use of a vehicle, bicycle, or other mode—is an innovative transportation strategy that enables users to gain short-term access to transportation modes on an “as-needed” basis. Shared mobility includes various forms of carsharing, bikesharing, ridesharing, on-demand ride services, and microtransit. Additionally, smartphone and mobile “apps” aggregate and optimize these mobility services and are critical to many shared mobility modes. Courier network services connect couriers using their personal vehicles or bicycles with freight and seek to disrupt the existing...

Shared Mobility Policy Playbook

Shaheen, Susan, PhD
Cohen, Adam
Randolph, Michael
Farrar, Emily
Davis, Richard
Nichols, Aqshems
2019

Shared mobility can include roundtrip services (a vehicle, bicycle, scooter, or other mode is returned to its origin); one-way station-based services (a vehicle, bicycle, scooter, or other mode is returned to a different designated station location); and one-way free-floating services (a vehicle, bicycle, scooter, or other mode can be returned anywhere within a geographic area). To help manage free-floating services, cities and shared mobility operators may use technologies like geofencing. Geofencing is a technology that uses GPS or RFID technology to create a virtual boundary, enabling...

California's Zero-Emission Vehicle Mandate: Linking Clean-Fuel Cars, Carsharing, and Station Car Strategies

Shaheen, Susan
Wright, John
Sperling, Daniel
2002

To reduce transportation emissions and energy consumption, policymakers typically employ one of two approaches—changing technology or changing behavior. These strategies include demand management tools, such as ridesharing and vehicle control technologies—cleaner fuels and fuel economy. Despite the benefits of a combined policy approach, these strategies are normally employed separately. Nevertheless, they have been linked occasionally, for instance in theelectric station car programs of the 1990s. Station cars are vehicles used by transit riders at the start or end of a trip.In 1990, the...

Going My Way? Understanding Curb Management and Incentive Policies to Increase Pooling Service Use and Public Transit Linkages in the San Francisco Bay Area

Darling, Wesley
Broader, Jacquelyn
Cohen, Adam
Shaheen, Susan, PhD
2023

Despite lower user costs, only 20% to 40% of transportation network company (TNC) users select a pooled, or shared, ride option. Why are existing TNC users not selecting the pooled option or using TNCs to connect to public transit, and what role do built environment features and incentives play in their decision? This study explores the factors that influence TNC user decisions through a multi-method approach comprising photovoice small group discussions and a workshop. Between March 2021 and May 2021, 15 San Francisco Bay Area TNC users shared photographs they took of TNC pick-up...

What’s the ‘Big’ Deal with Shared Micromobility? Evolution, Curb Policy, and Potential Developments in North America

Shaheen, Susan
Cohen, Adam
Broader, Jacquelyn
2021

Shared micromobility – or short-term access to shared bikes and scooters – provides a flexible alternative for households living in urban areas, individuals seeking first- and last-mile connections to public transportation, and those without access to a private vehicle trying to reach jobs and essential services. In this paper, the authors discuss the history, growth, and evolution of bike and scooter sharing in North America; summarize the demographics and impacts of shared micromobility; and explore shared micromobility policies and practices for managing devices and operations such as:...

Bridging the Gap Between Evacuations and the Sharing Economy

Wong, Steven D.
Walker, Joan L.
Shaheen, Susan A.
2020

This paper examines the opportunities for addressing evacuations by leveraging the sharing economy. To support this research, we use a mixed-method approach employing archival research of sharing economy actions, 24 high-ranking expert interviews, and a survey of individuals impacted by Hurricane Irma in 2017 (n=645). Using these data, we contribute to the literature in four key ways. First, we summarize sharing economy company actions in 30 U.S. disasters. Second, we discuss results from 24 expert interviews on 11 sharing economy benefits (ranging from resource redundancy to positive...

Shared Automated Vehicle (SAV) Pilots and Automated Vehicle Policy in the U.S.: Current and Future Developments

Stocker, Adam
Shaheen, Susan
2018

Many automated vehicle (AV) developers and technology companies are fast pursuing the public deployment of these vehicles as part of a shared fleet. To the best of our knowledge, this chapter is the first comprehensive compilation of 17 active shared automated vehicle (SAV) pilot projects in the U.S., as of February 2018. This chapter also reviews AV regulatory efforts at the federal, state, and local levels. By tracking trends and classifying the differences between SAV pilots, we foster a better understanding of how this technology might roll out in the coming decades. While 30 states...

Reducing Greenhouse Emissions and Fuel Consumption: Sustainable Approaches for Surface Transportation

Shaheen, Susan A.
Lipman, Timothy E.
2007

Climate change is rapidly becoming known as a tangible issue that must be addressed to avoid major environmental consequences in the future. Recent change in public opinion has been caused by the physical signs of climate change–melting glaciers, rising sea levels, more severe storm and drought events, and hotter average global temperatures annually. Transportation is a major contributor of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gas emissions from human activity, accounting for approximately 14 percent of total anthropogenic emissions globally and about 27 percent in the U.S.Fortunately...

Good Practices for Advancing Urban Mobility Innovation: A Case Study of One-Way Carsharing

Terrien, Clara
Maniak, Remi
Chen, Bo
Shaheen, Susan
2016

Transforming urban mobility requires integrating public with private services into a single transportation system. Local governments and private companies face the challenge of how to coordinate themselves. An emblematic example is one-way carsharing (shared use of a fleet of vehicles that are typically free-floating throughout an urban area). Surprisingly, good practices for public and private players driving this change remain relatively undocumented. This paper proposes a systematic and balanced public-private approach to foster transportation innovation management. We review both...

U.S. Shared-use Vehicle Survey Findings: Opportunities and Obstacles for Carsharing and Station Car Growth

Shaheen, Susan A.
Meyn, Mollyanne
Wipyewski, Kamill
2003

Shared-use vehicle services provide members access to a vehicle fleet for use on an as needed basis, without the hassles and costs of individual auto ownership. From June 2001 to July 2002, the authors surveyed 18 U.S. shared-use vehicle organizations on a range of topics, including organizational size, partnerships, pricing, costs, and technology. While survey findings demonstrate a decline in the number of organizational starts in the last year, operational launches into new cities, membership, and fleet size continue to increase. Several growth-oriented organizations are responsible for...