Shared Mobility

To Pool or Not to Pool? Understanding Opportunities, Challenges, and Equity Considerations to Expanding the Market for Pooling

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

On-demand mobility services such as bikesharing, scooter sharing, and transportation network companies (TNCs, also known as ridesourcing and ridehailing) are changing the way that people travel by providing dynamic, on-demand mobility that can supplement public transit and personal-vehicle use. Adoption of on-demand mobility has soared across the United States and abroad, driven by the flexibility and affordability that these services offer, particularly in urban areas where population density and land use patterns facilitate a reliable balance of supply and demand. The growth of app-based...

Guest Editorial Special Issue on Modeling Dynamic Transportation Networks in the Age of Connectivity, Autonomy and Data

Savla, Ketan
Du, Lili
Samaranayake, Samitha
Ban, Xuegang Jeff
Bayen, Alexandre
2022

The recent emergence of new technologies and systems such as connected and automated vehicles (CAVs), novel incentive and routing platforms, and shared mobility services is making a significant impact on traffic flow in road networks. The rapid development of these innovations, powered by new capabilities in data collection, communication, and vehicle autonomy raises both great opportunities and new challenges for managing and controlling the transportation network efficiently. It is thus imperative to integrate the emerging systems into a dynamic transportation network analysis, and to...

The Benefits of Carpooling

Shaheen, Susan
Cohen, Adam
Bayen, Alexandre M.
2024

Carpooling allows travelers to share a ride to a common destination and can include several forms of sharing a ride, such as casual carpooling and real-time carpooling. Because carpooling reduces the number of automobiles needed by travelers, it is often associated with numerous societal benefitsincluding:1) reductions in energy consumption and emissions, 2) congestion mitigation, and 3) reduced parking infrastructure demand. In recent years, economic, environmental, and social forces coupled with technological innovations are encouraging shared and pooled services. Shared mobility is...

Improving Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District Connectivity and Access with the Segway Human Transporter and Other Low Speed Mobility Devices

Rodier, Caroline J.
Shaheen, Susan A.
Novick, Linda
2004

Access to transit stations is a significant barrier to transit use in many urban regions. Parking during peak hours is often limited, and many individuals are only willing to walk about a quarter mile to transit stations (Cervero, 2001). While there are some effective feeder services (e.g., shuttles) that help extend the range of transit access, these systems are limited because of fixed routes and schedules. A number of strategies have recently been implemented to improve transit access and transit use, including bicycles, electric bicycles, carsharing, and personal neighborhood electric...

Improving Mobility through Enhanced Transit Services: Transit Taxi Service for Areas with Low Passenger Demand Density

Li, Yuwei
Miller, Mark
Cassidy, Michael
2009

This research report is the final deliverable for PATH Task Order 6408: “Improving Mobility through Enhanced Transit Services”. The purpose of this task order is to explore alternative methods of providing transit service to areas with low passenger demand density. This report first presents analytical models for determining optimal headway and line spacing for fixed-route, fixed schedule buses, either with fixed stops or allowing buses to stop anywhere along the route. Next, transit taxi services with either fixed or flexible routes that specifically target focused demand patterns are...

Achieving Higher Taxi Outflows from a Congested Drop-off Lane: A Simulation-Based Policy Study

Yang, Fangyi
Gu, Weihua
Cassidy, Michael
Li, Xin
Li, Tiezhu
2019

We examine special lanes used by taxis and other shared-ride services to drop-off patrons at airport and rail terminals. Vehicles are prohibited from overtaking each other within the lane. They must therefore wait in a first-in-first-out queue during busy periods. Patrons are often discharged from vehicles only upon reaching a desired drop-off area near the terminal entrance. When wait times grow long, however, some vehicles discharge their patrons in advance of that desired area. A train station in Eastern China is selected as a case study. Its FIFO drop-off lane is presently managed by...

Optimal Design of Transit Networks Fed by Shared Bikes

Wu, Liyu
Gu, Weihua
Fan, Wenbo
Cassidy, Michael J.
2020

Transit systems are designed in which access and egress can occur via a shared-bike service. Patrons may walk to shared-bike docking stations nearest their origins, and then cycle to their nearest transit stations where they deposit the bikes. The travel pattern is reversed when patrons cycle from their final transit stations on to their destinations. Patrons choose between this option and that of solely walking to or from transit stations. Shared bikes are priced to achieve the system-optimal assignment of the two feeder options. Transit trunk-line networks are laid-out in hybrid fashion...

Subsidizing Transportation Network Companies to Support Commutes by Rail

Darling, Wesley
Cassidy, Michael J.
2024

We explore how rail transit’s first- and last-mile issue might be addressed by partnering with transportation network companies (TNCs) like Uber and Lyft. The goal is to lure high-income commuters to shift from cars to TNCs and rail. We also explore how rail and TNC partnerships can improve travel for low-income commuters who currently rely on low-frequency bus service. We parametrically test subsidizing TNC fares for feeder services in the San Francisco Bay Area inan idealized fashion. Inputs such as the residents’ value of time and vehicle ownership were taken from various local data...

Davis Smart Mobility Model Project: Initial Scoping and Planning Study

Shaheen, Susan A.
Finson, Rachel S.
2003

The goal of the Davis Smart Mobility Model project is to optimize individual mobility options through improved connectivity among modes, enhanced techniques to link land-use planning and transportation system design, advanced information technologies, and clean-fuel vehicles. The California PATH/Caltrans partnership with the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) started when campus planners expressed interest in learning how innovative mobility services and technologies (such as carsharing and smart parking management) might help to alleviate the transportation impacts of a campus...

Improving Mobility Through Enhanced Transit Services: Case Studies for Transit-Taxis

Widmann, Joshua H.
Miller, Mark A.
2006

This report, an interim deliverable for Task Orders 5408 and 6408: “Improving Mobility through Enhanced Transit Services”. Thus far in the study we have performed a review of the literature and conducted a small number of site-specific case studies for transit agencies in North America identified from the literature review as either currently having or in the past having had transit-taxi service implemented in their agency’s jurisdiction. We initially classified alternative concepts of transit-taxis into a typology of three service design options based on a review of the literature: 1)...