Public Transportation

Public Transit and Shared Mobility COVID-19 Recovery: Policy Options and Research Needs

Shaheen, Susan, PhD
Wong, Stephen, PhD
2020

While the COVID-19 crisis has devastated many public transit and shared mobility services, it has also exposed underlying issues in how these services are provided to society. As ridership drops and revenues decline, many public and private providers may respond by cutting service or reducing vehicle maintenance to save costs. As a result, those who depend on public transit and shared mobility services, particularly those without access to private automobiles, will experience further loss of their mobility. These transportation shifts will be further influenced by changing work-from-home...

The General Transit Feed Specification Makes Trip-Planning Easier — Especially During a Pandemic — Yet its Use by California Agencies is Uneven

Frick, Karen Trapenberg, PhD
Kumar, Tanu, PhD
Li, Ruyin
Patil, Atharva
Post, Alison, PhD
2020

Developed in 2005, the General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) is making transit trip planning easier by allowing public transportation agencies to share transit schedules in an electronic format that can be used by a variety of trip-planning applications, such as Google Maps. The GTFS can be used to share static transit schedules (GTFS-s) or provide real-time information on transit vehicle arrivals and departures (GTFS-r). Providing real-time updates has proven to be exceptionally valuable during the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, between January 13th and April 25th of this year Apple...

How Might Adjustments to Public Transit Operations Affect COVID-19 Transmission?

Huan, Yiduo, MSc
Shen, Zuojun Max, PhD
2022

During the COVID-19 pandemic, public transportation systems worldwide faced many challenges, including significant loss of ridership. Public agencies implemented various COVID-19-related policies to reduce transmission, such as reducing service frequency and network coverage of public transportation. Recent studies have examined the effectiveness of these policies but reach different conclusions due to varying assumptions about how passengers may react to service changes. Some studies proposed optimizing public transit operation timetables, service frequency, and network coverage to reduce...

Are our Transit Systems Ready for Earthquakes?

Soga, Kenichi, PhD
Comfort, Louise, PhD
Zhao, Bingyu, PhD
Tang, Yili (Kelly), PhD
Han, Tianyu
2024

Located on the tectonic boundary with multiple active faults, the San Francisco Bay Area is highly vulnerable to earthquakes. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has estimated a 72% probability of an earthquakewith a magnitude of 6.7 or greater striking the region within the next 30 years. Historical seismic events have demonstrated the profound impact earthquakes can have on transportation systems. During the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, the closure of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, a critical transit route for San Francisco commuters, left nearly 400,000 commuters and...

Low-Income Suburban Residents in the San Francisco Bay Area Face Significant Housing and Transportation Issues

Pan, Alexandra
Deakin, Elizabeth, PhD
Shaheen, Susan, PhD
2024

Growing poverty in America’s suburbs challenges their image as single-family residential communities for middle class, predominantly white families. Research shows that suburban areas now have the largest share of households under the poverty line. Since these areas have lower density development and lower levels of public transit service compared to urban areas, living in the suburbs may pose accessibility challenges for low-income households, particularly those without a personal vehicle. To explore housing and transportation issues associated with the suburbanization of poverty, we...

Connected and Automated Vehicle Technology is Not Enough; it Must also be Collaborative

Patire, Anthony D., PhD
Dion, Francois, PhD
Bayen, Alexandre M., PhD
2023

Connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) willrevolutionize the way we travel; however, what impact this revolution will have on advancing broader societal goals is uncertain. To date, the private sector technology rollout has emphasized the automation side of CAVs and neglected the potentially transformative possibilities brought by a more collaborative notion of connectivity. This may have significant downsides from a broader societal perspective. For example, CAVs (including those on the road today) collect a vast amount of data gathered through onboard systems (e.g., radar, lidar, camera...

Shared Mobility Resources: Helping to Understand Emerging Shifts in Transportation

Shaheen, Susan
Cohen, Adam
Zohdy, Ismail
2018

Shared mobility is a transportation strategy that is rising in prominence and has thepotential to align with supportive land use, mobility, social, and environmental goals. As a concept, the term applies to any mode, whether bicycle, car, public transit, or other mode, in which shared use (concurrent or sequential) is often facilitated by smartphone apps and technology. Casual carpooling is one example in which sharing has been more organic and non-technological in nature. Given shared mobility’s notable growth and expansion in recent years, it merits a deeper understanding in light of its...

Transportation Network Companies Might Be Pulling Riders from Public Transit, but This Could Change

Shaheen, Susan, PhD
Martin, Elliot, PhD
Stocker, Adam
2023

Transportation Network Companies (TNCs, also known as ridehailing and ridesourcing) have expanded across California over the past decade and changed the way people travel. Using a smartphone, travelers can quickly summon a vehicle from almost anywhere and know what the estimated wait time, travel time, and cost will be before stepping into the vehicle. While TNCs are clearly addressing an unmet need for travelers, their growing popularity has raised a number of policy questions, including if TNCs are shifting people away from public transit and other travel modes (e.g., carshare, walking,...

Creative Reallocation of Curbs, Streets, Sidewalks Accelerated by the Pandemic May be Here to Stay

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

Curb space has been traditionally designed for private vehicle parking, public transit, and passenger and commercial loading. However, in recent years, a growing number of newservices and activities have increased the demand for limited curb space, including passenger pick-up and drop-off; last-mile delivery (e.g., courier network services, personal delivery devices); electric vehicle (EV) charging; micromobility parking and use (e.g., personally owned and shared bikes and scooters); and carsharing services. The curb serves a variety of functions such as vehicle and device storage (...

Could Transportation Network Companies help Improve Rail Commuting?

Darling, Wesley
Cassidy, Michael J.
2024

Commuter rail is known to have a “first- and last-mile” problem (i.e., a lack of options for getting commuters to and from a rail station). The first- and last-mile dilemma creates inequalities in access. For example, high-income commuters drive to work (forgoing transit altogether), middle-income commuters drive to a rail station and pay to park, and low-income commuters rely on feeder buses or walking to reach a rail station. Transportation network companies (TNCs), like Uber and Lyft, are a viable option for connecting travelers to rail stations, especially for those who don’t own a car...