Policy

Carsharing Parking Policy: Review of North American Practices and San Francisco, California, Bay Area Case Study

Shaheen, Susan A.
Cohen, Adam
Martin, Elliot
2010

Carsharing provides users access to a shared vehicle fleet for short-term use throughout the day, reducing the need for private vehicles. The provision of on-street and public off-street parking dedicated to carsharing is an important policy area confronting public agencies. As of July 2009, approximately 377,600 individuals were carsharing members in North America in about 57 metropolitan areas. A total of 17 jurisdictions, one state (California), and eight public transit operators in North America have formal and informal carsharing parking policies, pilot projects, and proposed...

Concurrent Air Quality Analysis Under the National Environmental Policy Act and Transportation/Air Quality Conformity

Shaheen, Susan
Guensler, Randall
Mar, Francisca
1995

This paper addresses the direct and indirect relationships between the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the new conformity requirements. This paper concludes that NEPA and transportation/air quality conformity processes should be concurrent. The need for concurrent determinations is supported by five arguments: 1) the legislative history of conformity indicates that project conformity determinations be made during the NEPA process; 2) general NEPA requirements specify coordination between environmental processes; 3) the level of technical detail required for conformity analyses...

Carsharing in North America: Market Growth, Current Developments, and Future Potential

Shaheen, Susan A.
Cohen, Adam P.
Roberts, J. Darius
2006

Carsharing provides members access to a fleet of autos for short-term use throughout the day, reducing the need for one or more personal vehicles. Over ten years ago, carsharing operators began to appear in North America. Since 1994, a total of 40 programs have been deployed—28 are operating in 36 urban areas and 12 are now defunct. Another four are planned to launch in the next year. This paper examines carsharing growth potential in North America, based on a survey of 26 existing organizations conducted from April to July 2005. Since the mid-1990s, the number of members and vehicles...

Shared-Use Vehicle Services for Sustainable Transportation: Carsharing, Bikesharing, and Personal Vehicle Sharing across the Globe

Shaheen, Susan A.
2012

This special issue of the International Journal of Sustainable Transportation highlights developments in shared-use vehicle research, in particular carsharing, public bikesharing, and personal vehicle sharing. Since the mid-1980s, shared-use vehicle services have gained momentum across the world. Developments include a range of operational models—private, non-profit, and governmental ventures; advanced technology; worldwide entry and growth; collaboration and competition; and increased activity by auto rental companies and automakers.

Virtual Commercial Vehicle Compliance Stations: A Review of Legal and Institutional Issues

Rodier, Caroline J.
Shaheen, Susan A.
Cavanagh, Ellen
2006

In the past five years, commercial vehicle travel has increased 60 percent on California’s highways, without a corresponding increase in compliance inspection station capacity or enforcement officers. Commercial vehicles that do not comply with regulations impose significant public costs including, for example, pavement and structure damage to roads and catastrophic crashes. In response to these problems, the California Department of Transportation is investigating the potential application of detection and communication technology in virtual compliance stations (VCS) to cost-effectively...

Chapter 12: Shared Micromobility Policy and Practices in the United states

Shaheen, Susan
2021

Shared micromobility has the potential to offer communities an array of individual and community benefits, such as increased mobility, greater environmental awareness, and increased use of active transportation and non-vehicular modes. With careful planning and public policy, micromobility can also enhance accessibility and quality of life in cities. This chapter dis-cusses the growth of shared micromobility, its impacts on users and communities, and policy considerations for managing the potential adverse impacts of shared micromobility on curbspace management. This chapter is...

Shared Ride Services in North America: Definitions, Impacts, and the Future of Pooling

Shaheen, Susan
Cohen, Adam
2018

Shared ride services allow riders to share a ride to a common destination. They include ridesharing (carpooling and vanpooling); ridesplitting (a pooled version of ridesourcing/transportation network companies); taxi sharing; and microtransit. In recent years, growth of Internet-enabled wireless technologies, global satellite systems, and cloud computing - coupled with data sharing – are causing people to increase their use of mobile applications to share a ride. Some shared ride services, such as carpooling and vanpooling, can provide transportation, infrastructure, environmental...

“Three Ps in a MOD:” Role for Mobility on Demand (MOD) Public-Private Partnerships in Public Transit Provision

Lucken, Emma
Trapenberg Frick, Karen
Shaheen, Susan
2019

The growing number of public transportation agencies partnering with Mobility on Demand (MOD) or Mobility as a Service (MaaS) companies raises the question of what role MOD companies can, should, and currently play in the provision of public transport. In this article, we develop a typology reflecting 62 MOD public-private partnerships (MOD PPPs) in the United States and present lessons learned. We conducted 34 interviews with representatives from four MOD companies and 27 public agencies. The interviews spanned October 2017 to April 2018. The resulting MOD PPP typology consists of four...

Can Sharing Economy Platforms Increase Social Equity for Vulnerable Populations in Disaster Response and Relief? A Case Study of the 2017 and 2018 California Wildfires

Wong, Steven D.
Broader, Jacquelyn C.
Shaheen, Susan A.
2020

Ensuring social equity in evacuations and disasters remains a critical challenge for many emergency management and transportation agencies. Recent sharing economy advances – including transportation network companies (TNCs, also known as ridehailing and ridesourcing), carsharing, and homesharing – may supplement public resources and ensure more equitable evacuations. To explore the social equity implications of the sharing economy in disasters, we conducted four focus groups (n=37) of vulnerable populations impacted by California wildfires in 2017 or 2018. To structure these data, we...

Policy Considerations for Carsharing and Station Cars: Monitoring Growth, Trends, and Overall Impacts

Shaheen, Susan A.
Schwartz, Andrew
Wipyewski, Kamill
2004

Since the late-1990s, over 25 U.S. shared-use vehicle programs—including carsharing and station cars—have been launched. Given their presumed social and environmental benefits, the majority of these programs received some governmental support—primarily in the form of startup grants and subsidized parking. As of July 2003, there were a total of 15 shared-use vehicle programs, including 11 carsharing organizations, two carsharing research pilots, and two station car programs. Over the last five years, U.S. carsharing membership has experienced exponential growth.Despite this expansion, the...