TSRC

Student Access to Community College Relies Heavily on Private Vehicle Use

Shaheen, Susan, PhD
2025

California’s 116 community colleges, attended by 1.9 million students, serves the largest and most diverse student body in California higher education.1 Transportation plays an important role in student community college access and retention, but the cost and accessibility can create a barrier to success. Community college students spend more on transportation than their counterparts at both public and private four-year institutions, largely due to the lack of on-campus or nearby affordable housing.2 The absence of high-quality public transit forces students to commute by private vehicle...

Acquiring and Operating an Electric Vehicle is Largely Out of Reach for Most Ridehailing Drivers

Shaheen, Susan, PhD
2025

Transportation network companies (TNCs) have played an increasingly prominent role providing on-demand mobility for consumers across California. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) have adopted and are implementing SB 1014 (Clean Miles Standard), which establishes an annual increase in the percent of zero-emission passenger miles traveled and greenhouse (GHG) emission reduction targets for TNCs. This regulation requires TNC drivers to acquire and operate an electric vehicle (EV).

Intelligent Transportation Systems

Shaheen, Susan, PhD
Finson, Rachel
2013

Intelligent transportation systems (ITS) represent a group of technologies that can improve transportation system management and public transit, as well as individual decisions surrounding many aspects of travel. ITS technologies include state-of-the art wireless, electronic, and automated technologies with a goal to improve surface transportation safety, efficiency, and convenience. Reducing energy consumption, while not a primary goal for ITS, is a demonstrated ITS benefit in certain circumstances. This paper reviews and summarizes key energy benefits associated with a variety of ITS...

Mobile Apps and Transportation: A Review of Smartphone Apps and a Study of User Response to Multimodal Traveler Information

Shaheen, Susan
Martin, Elliot
Cohen, Adam
Musunuri, Apoorva
Bhattacharyya, Abhinav
2016

In recent years, technological and social forces have pushed smartphone applications (apps) from the fringe to the mainstream. Understanding the role of transportation apps in urban mobility is important for policy development and transportation planners. This study evaluates the role and impact of multimodal aggregators from a variety of perspectives, including a literature review; a review of the most innovative, disruptive, and highest-rated transportation apps; interviews with experts in the industry, and a user survey of former multimodal aggregator RideScout users. Between February...

Is Electric Vehicle Carsharing for Everyone? From Activity Patterns to User Retention

Yassine, Ziad
Martin, Elliot
Shaheen, Susan
2025

This research explores the user dynamics of electric vehicle (EV) carsharing within underserved communities, focusing on BlueLA, a one-way station-based EV carsharing service in Los Angeles, California. This study employs a mixed-methods approach to evaluate how activity patterns differ between BlueLA member types and how membership type influences user retention rates. We conduct an exploratory data, clustering, and survival analyses, using BlueLA trip activity data, supplemented by insights from a user survey and a general population survey. Our results reveal distinct travel behaviors...

Zero-Emission Vehicle Exposure Within U.S. Carsharing Fleets and Impacts on Sentiment Toward Electric-Drive Vehicles

Shaheen, Susan
Martin, Elliot
Totte, Hannah
2020

Reducing carbon emissions from the United States (U.S.) transportation sector has emerged as a priority action to combat climate change. Carsharing and zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) could be integral to creating a more sustainable transportation system. This paper presents the results of a study that evaluated the impacts of ZEV exposure on U.S. carsharing users. Surveys were administered to control and experimental groups of carsharing members that used shared PHEVs or EVs. Results showed that users who drove shared PHEVs or EVs more frequently were more likely to exhibit improved ZEV...

Understanding How Cities Can Link Smart Mobility Priorities Through Data

Shaheen, Susan, PhD
Martin, Elliot, PhD
Hoffman-Stapleton, Mikaela
Slowik, Peter
2018

This white paper presents a generalized evaluation framework that can be used for assessing project impacts within the context of transportation-related city projects. In support of this framework, we discuss a selection of metrics and data sources that are needed to evaluate the performance of smart city innovations. We first present a collection of projects and applications from near-term smart city concepts or actual pilot projects underway (i.e., Smart City Challenge, Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Mobility on Demand (MOD) Sandbox, and other pilot projects operating in the...

Mobility on Demand: Evolving and Growing Shared Mobility in the Suburbs of Northern Virginia

Shaheen, Susan
Cohen, Adam
Farrar, Emily
2019

For as long as there have been cities, there have been suburbs. Shared mobility—the shared use of a vehicle, bicycle, or other travel mode—is an innovative transportation strategy that enables users to have short-term access to a transportation mode on an as-needed basis. Shared mobility can enhance access and reduce social exclusion in lower-density environments and provide transportation options to carless and public transit-dependent households, particularly in areas without high-quality, fixed-route public transportation service. This chapter discusses the design and evolution of...

Mobility on Demand (MOD) and Mobility as a Service (MaaS): Early Understanding of Shared Mobility Impacts and Public Transit Partnerships

Shaheen, Susan
Cohen, Adam
2019

Technology is changing the way we move and reshaping cities and society. Shared and on-demand mobility represent notable transportation shifts in the 21st century. In recent years, mobility on demand (MOD)—where consumers access mobility, goods, and services on-demand by dispatching shared modes, courier services, public transport, and other innovative strategies—has grown rapidly due to technological advancements; changing consumer preferences; and a range of economic, environmental, and social factors. New attitudes toward sharing, MOD, and mobility as a service (MaaS) are changing...

Sharing Strategies: Carsharing, Shared Micromobility (Bikesharing and Scooter Sharing), Transportation Network Companies, Microtransit, and other Innovative Mobility Modes

Shaheen, Susan
Cohen, Adam
Chan, Nelson
Bansal, Apaar
2019

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. It includes various forms of carsharing, bikesharing, scooter sharing, ridesharing (carpooling and vanpooling), transportation network companies (TNCs), and microtransit. Included in this ecosystem are smartphone “apps” that aggregate and optimize these mobility options, as well as “courier network services” that provide last mile package and food delivery. This chapter describes different...