Transportation Equity

Current State of the Sharing Economy and Evacuations: Lessons from California

Wong, Stephen
Shaheen, Susan, PhD
2019

In many evacuations including wildfire evacuations, public agencies often do not have enough resources to evacuate and shelter all citizens. Consequently, we propose that the sharing economy, through private companies and/or private citizens, could be leveraged in disasters for transportation and sheltering resources. To assess this feasibility, we distributed surveys to individuals impacted by three major wildfires in California: 1) the 2017 October Northern California Wildfires (n=79), 2) the 2017 December Southern California Wildfires (n=226), and 3) the 2018 Carr Wildfire (n=284)....

Future of Public Transit and Shared Mobility: Scenario Planning for COVID-19 Recovery

Shaheen, Susan, PhD
Wong, Stephen, PhD
2021

In 2020, the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic enveloped the world, leading to a public health crisis that profoundly changed all aspects of society, especially multiple sectors in transportation such as public transit and shared mobility. With so much uncertainty about the future of travel, the transportation sector needs to move rapidly to shape the nature of public transit and shared mobility services during the COVID-19 recovery period. Consequently, the University of California Institute of Transportation Studies (UC ITS) and the Transportation Research Board’s (TRB) Executive...

Shared Mobility: Current Practices and Guiding Principles Brief

Shaheen, Susan
Cohen, Adam
Zohdy, Ismail
Kock, Beaudry
2016

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. The term shared mobility includes various forms of carsharing, bikesharing, ridesharing (carpooling and vanpooling), and on-demand ride services. It can also include alternative transit services, such as paratransit, shuttles, and private transit services (called microtransit), which can supplement fixed-route bus and rail services. With diverse options for mobility on the rise, smartphone...

Advanced Air Mobility: Opportunities, Challenges, and Research needsfor the State of California (2023-2030)

Cohen, Adam
Shaheen, Susan, PhD
2024

Advanced air mobility (AAM) is a broad concept that enables consumers access to air mobility, goods delivery, and emergency services through an integrated and connected multimodal transportation network. AAM can provide short-range urban, suburban, and rural flights of about 50-miles and mid-range regional flights up to a several hundred miles. State law delegates responsibility for oversight in aviation primarily to the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). This white paper presents an overview of the state of the market, such as the aircraft under development and forecast...

Behavioral and Sociodemographic Impacts of Carsharing

Shaheen, Susan A.
Pan, Alexandra
2024

The growth of carsharing in North America since the service was first introduced in 1994 has had notable impacts on travel behaviour, including vehicle ownership and modal shift. Existing forms of carsharing (e.g., roundtrip, one-way, and peer-to-peer) alter the conventional cost structure of driving from one of fixed cost to variable cost. Multiple studies have shown that overall, carsharing users increase public transit and non-motorized modal use, with some users also selling their vehicle or postponing future vehicle purchases as a result of being a carsharing member. These modal...

Advancing Social Equity and Congestion Relief: Understanding the Travel Needs of Underserved Populations That Rely on Transportation Network Companies in the San Francisco Bay Area

Shaheen, Susan
Gosselin, Kate
Broader, Jacquelyn
Cohen, Adam
2022

Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) enable travelers to order and pay for rides on-demand using an online application that connects them with drivers using their personal vehicles. While these modes present opportunities to increase individual mobility and access, they also can worsen congestion and increase vehicle emissions. Researchers explored factors impacting the willingness to use pooled TNCs and identified strategies/policies that could be employed to reduce congestion from TNC use. Researchers conducted a literature review, interviews with TNC experts, semi-structured...

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...

Travel Behavior of Mexican and Other Immigrant Groups in California

Handy, Susan
Blumenberg, Evelyn
Donahue, Moria
Lovejoy, Kristin
Rodier, Caroline
Shaheen, Susan
Shiki, Kimiko
Song, Lily
2008

California is the destination for over one-quarter of immigrants to the United States, and immigrants now make up over one-quarterof the state's population. To ensure that transportation systems and services adequately meet the needs of recent immigrants, planners need a firm understanding of the travel behavior of immigrant groups. This paper reports on key findings from a three-phased study: (1) analysis of data on commute travel of California immigrants from the 1980, 1990, and 2000 Censuses; (2) focus groups with recent Mexican immigrants on their transportation experiences and needs...

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...