TSRC

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:...

Bikesharing in Europe, the Americas, and Asia: Past, Present and Future

Shaheen, Susan A.
Guzman, Stacey
Zhang, Hua
2010

Growing concerns over global motorization and climate change have led to increasing interest in sustainable transportation alternatives, such as bikesharing (the shared use of a bicycle fleet). Since 1965, bikesharing has grown across the globe on four continents including: Europe, North America, South America, and Asia (including Australia). Today, there are approximately 100 bikesharing programs operating in an estimated 125 cities around the world with over 139,300 bicycles. Bikesharing’s evolution is categorized into three generations: 1) White Bikes (or Free Bike Systems); 2) Coin-...

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...

Carsharing and the Built Environment: Geographic- Information System-Based Study of One U.S Operator

Stillwater, Tai
Mokhtarian, Patricia L.
Shaheen, Susan A.
2009

The use of carsharing vehicles over a period of 16 months in 2006-07 was compared to built environment and demographic factors in this GIS-based multivariate regression study of an urban U.S. carsharing operator. Carsharing is a relatively new transportation industry in which companies provide members with short-term vehicle access from distributed neighborhood locations. The number of registered carsharing members in North America has doubled every year or two to a current level of approximately 320,000. Researchers have long supposed that public transit access is a key factor driving...

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...

Transit-Based Smart Parking: An Evaluation of the San Francisco Bay Area Field Test

Rodier, Caroline J.
Shaheen, Susan A.
2010

This paper presents an evaluation of the first transit-based smart parking project in the US at the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District station in Oakland, California. The paper begins with a review of the smart parking literature; next the smart parking field test is described including its capital, operational, and maintenance costs; and finally the results of the participant survey analysis are presented. Some key user response results are: (1) most participants used the smart parking system 1–3 days a month for commute travel and (2) 37% of respondents had seen the...

Shared Automated Vehicle (SAV) Pilots and Automated Vehicle Policy in the U.S.: Current and Future Developments

Stocker, Adam
Shaheen, Susan
2018

Many automated vehicle (AV) developers and technology companies are fast pursuing the public deployment of these vehicles as part of a shared fleet. To the best of our knowledge, this chapter is the first comprehensive compilation of 17 active shared automated vehicle (SAV) pilot projects in the U.S., as of February 2018. This chapter also reviews AV regulatory efforts at the federal, state, and local levels. By tracking trends and classifying the differences between SAV pilots, we foster a better understanding of how this technology might roll out in the coming decades. While 30 states...

China's Hangzhou Public Bicycle: Understanding Early Adoption and Behavioral Response to Bikesharing in Hangzhou, China

Shaheen, Susan A.
Zhang, Hua
Martin, Elliot
Guzman, Stacey
2011

Over the past 20 years, China has experienced a steady decline in bicycle use. To address this trend, China's central and local government for urban transportation created the "Public Transit Priority" to encourage public transport initiatives. As part of this effort, the Hangzhou government launched “Hangzhou Public Bicycle” in 2008. This service allows members to access a shared fleet of bicycles. As of March 2011, it operated 60,600 bicycles with 2,416 fixed stations in eight core districts. To understand factors leading to bikesharing adoption and barriers to adoption, the authors...

Travel Effects of a Suburban Commuter Carsharing Service: CarLink Case Study

Shaheen, Susan A.
Rodier, Caroline J.
2005

Since 1998, carsharing programs (or short-term auto rentals) in the U.S. have experienced exponential membership growth. As of July 2003, 15 carsharing organizations collectively claimed 25,727 members and 784 vehicles. Given this growing demand, decision makers and transit operators are increasingly interested in understanding the potential for carsharing services to increase transit use, reduce auto ownership, and lower vehicle miles traveled. However, to date, there is only limited evidence of potential program effects in the U.S. and Europe. This paper presents the travel effects of...

Power Trips: Early Understanding of Preparedness and Travel Behavior During California Public Safety Power Shutoff Events

Wong, Steven D.
Broader, Jacquelyn C.
Shaheen, Susan A.
2022

Recent wildfire risks in California have prompted the implementation of public safety power shutoff (PSPS) events, procedures enacted by utility operators to de-energize parts of the electrical grid and reduce the likelihood of wildfire ignition. Despite their yearly occurrence, PSPS events are severely understudied, and little is known about how these events impact disaster preparation activity, travel behavior, and transportation systems. With growing wildfire risks in North America and beyond, PSPS events require immediate and thorough research to reduce their negative externalities and...