Shared Mobility

Public Bikesharing and Modal Shift Behavior: A Comparative Study of Early Bikesharing Systems in North America

Shaheen, Susan, PhD
Martin, Elliot, PhD
Cohen, Adam
2013

Public bikesharing—the shared use of a bicycle fleet by the public—is an innovative mobility strategy that has recently emerged in major North American cities. Bikesharing systems typically position bicycles throughout an urban environment, among a network of docking stations, for immediate access. This paper discusses the modal shift that results from individuals participating in four public bikesharing systems in North America. The authors conducted an online survey (n =10,661 total sample), between November 2011 and January 2012, with members of four major bikesharing organizations (...

Local Government Strategies to Improve Shared Micromobility Infrastructure

Shaheen, Susan, PhD
Martin, Elliot, PhD
Cohen, Adam
2024

Shared micromobility (bikesharing and scooter sharing) experienced market growth since 2021, rebounding from the pandemic across markets in the US, Mexico, and Canada. In partnership with the North American Bikeshare and Scootershare Association (NABSA) and Toole Design, researchers at the Transportation Sustainability Research Center (TSRC) at UC Berkeley have collaborated on the data collection and analysis of the shared micromobility industry metrics through a series of annual reports beginning in 2019. This includes a series of operator and agency surveys. Most recently, TSRC...

Evaluating Public Transit Modal Shift Dynamics In Response to Bikesharing: A Tale of Two U.S. Cities

Martin, Elliot, PhD
Shaheen, Susan, PhD
2014

Public bikesharing—the shared use of a bicycle fleet—has recently emerged in major North American cities. Bikesharing has been found to decrease driving and increase bicycling. But shifts in public transit have been mixed. The authors evaluate survey data from two U.S. cities to explore who is shifting toward and away from public transit as a result of bikesharing. The authors explore this question by mapping geocoded home and work locations of respondents within Washington DC and Minneapolis. Respondents were mapped by their modal shift toward or away from bus and rail transit. The...

Local Governments Strategies to Improve Shared Micromobility Infrastructure

Shaheen, Susan
Martin, Elliot
Cohen, Adam
2024

This brief explores how shared micromobility (bikesharing and scooter sharing) has evolved since the pandemic. Primary data for this report were collected through four surveys: An Operator Survey (n=25) and an Agency Survey (n=52) distributed between January 2022 and May 2022 to all known shared micromobility operators and agencies and included questions about the attributes of shared micromobility systems1 operating within those agency jurisdictions and operator markets; and a similar Operator Survey (n=29) and an Agency Survey (n=52) distributed between January 2023 and June 2023 to all...

To Pool or Not to Pool? Understanding the Time and Price Tradeoffs of OnDemand Ride Users – Opportunities, Challenges, and Social Equity Considerations for Policies to Promote Shared-Ride Services

Shaheen, Susan, PhD
Lazarus, Jessica
Caicedo, Juan
Bayen, Alexandre, PhD
2021

On-demand mobility services including transportation network companies (also known as ridesourcing and ridehailing) like Lyft and Uber are changing the way that people travel by providing dynamic mobility that can supplement public transit and personal-vehicle use. However, TNC services have been found to contribute to increasing vehicle mileage, traffic congestion, and greenhouse gas emissions. Pooling rides ⎯ sharing a vehicle by multiple passengers to complete journeys of similar origin and destination ⎯ can increase the average vehicle occupancy of TNC trips and thus mitigate some of...

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 fueleconomy. Despite the benefits of a combined policy approach, these strategies are normally employed separately. Nevertheless, they have been linked occasionally, for instance in the electric 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...

Mobility on Demand (MOD) Sandbox Demonstrations Independent Evaluation (IE) - Los Angeles County and Puget Sound MOD First and Last Mile Partnership with Via Evaluation Plan

Cordahi, Gustave
Shaheen, Susan
Martin, Elliot
Hoffman-Stapleton, Mikaela
2018

The Mobility on Demand (MOD) Sandbox Demonstration Program provides a venue through which integrated MOD concepts and solutions – supported through local partnerships – are demonstrated in real-world settings. For each of the 11 MOD Sandbox Demonstration projects, the MOD Sandbox Independent Evaluation includes an analysis of project impacts from performance measures provided by the project partners, as well as an assessment of the business models used. This report constitutes the Evaluation Plan for the Los Angeles County and Puget Sound MOD First and Last Mile Partnership Demonstration...

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,...

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

Wong, Stephen
Shaheen, Susan
2019

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...

A Short History of Carsharing in the 90's

Shaheen, Susan A.
Sperling, Daniel
Wagner, Conrad
1999

From: A Short History of Carsharing in the 90's. Journal of World Transport Policy & Practice 5 (3), 18 - 40 The vast majority of automobile trips in U.S. metropolitan regions are drive-alone car trips. In 1990, approximately 90 percent of work trips and 58 percent of nonwork trips in the United States were made by vehicles with only one occupant (United States Department of Transportation, 1995). Vehicles are unused an average of 23 hours per day. This form of transportation is expensive and consumes large amounts of land. Private vehicles are attractive. Their universal appeal is...