TSRC

A Checklist of Immediate Actions for Addressing COVID-19 as Part of Evacuation Planning

Wong, Stephen
Broader, Jacquelyn
Shaheen, Susan, PhD
2020

Well planned and coordinated evacuations are critical to saving lives during natural disasters (e.g., hurricanes, wildfires) and human-caused disasters (e.g., chemical spills, terrorism). To complicate matters, recent wildfires in the western United States (U.S.) and multiple hurricanes in the Gulf Coast have coincided with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. As of mid-October 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to over 7.9 million positive cases and over 217,000 deaths in the U.S. alone. Stay-at-home orders and social distancing measures that were introduced to address COVID-19 may...

Mobility on Demand (MOD) Demonstration: Valley Metro Mobility Platform Evaluation Report

Cordahi, Gustave
Shaheen, Susan
Martin, Elliot
2020

This report evaluates the Valley Metro Mobility Platform project, part of the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Mobility on Demand (MOD) Sandbox program. Valley Metro currently provides a Valley Metro Ridekick mobile application for its users that features trip planning for light rail and buses. The Mobility Platform project aimed to develop new trip planning features and an integrated payment system for public and private transportation in an updated pilot app called Pass2Go, but integration with private transportation was not achieved and the app was discontinued, eventually to be...

MOD Sandbox Demonstrations Independent Evaluation (IE) Pierce Transit Limited Access Connections Evaluation Plan

Cordahi, Gustave
Shaheen, Susan
Martin, Elliot
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 Pierce Transit (PT) Limited Access Connections Sandbox project. It includes the...

Just A Better Taxi? A Survey-Based Comparison of Taxis, Transit, and Ridesourcing Services in San Francisco

Rayle, Lisa
Dai, Danielle
Chan, Nelson
Cervero, Robert
Shaheen, Susan, PhD
2016

In this study, we present exploratory evidence of how “ridesourcing” services (app-based, on-demand ride services like Uber and Lyft) are used in San Francisco. We explore who uses ridesourcing and for what reasons, how the ridesourcing market compares to that of traditional taxis, and how ridesourcing impacts the use of public transit and overall vehicle travel. In spring 2014, 380 completed intercept surveys were collected from three ridesourcing “hot spots” in San Francisco. We compare survey results with matched-pair taxi trip data and results of a previous taxi user survey. We also...

Carsharing and Partnership Management: An International Perspective

Shaheen, Susan
Sperling, Dan
Wagner, Conrad
2004

Most cars carry one person and are used for less than 1 hour per day. A more economically rational approach would be to use vehicles more intensively. Carsharing, in which a group of people pays a subscription plus a per-use fee, is one means of doing so. Carsharing may be organized through affinity groups, large employers, transit operators, neighborhood groups, or large carsharing businesses. Relative to car ownership, carsharing has the disadvantage of less convenient vehicle access but the advantages of a large range of vehicles, fewer ownership responsibilities, and less cost (if...

Review of California Wildfire Evacuations from 2017 to 2019

Wong, Stephen D.
Broader, Jacquelyn C.
Shaheen, Susan A., PhD
2020

Between 2017 and 2019, California experienced a series of devastating wildfires that together led over one million people to be ordered to evacuate. Due to the speed of many of these wildfires, residents across California found themselves in challenging evacuation situations, often at night and with little time to escape. These evacuations placed considerable stress on public resources and infrastructure for both transportation and sheltering. In the face of these clear challenges, transportation and emergency management agencies across California have widely varying levels of preparedness...

Evolution of E-Mobility in Carsharing Business Models

Shaheen, Susan, PhD
Chan, Nelson
2014

Carsharing continues to grow worldwide as a powerful strategy to provide an alternative to solo driving. The viability of electric vehicles, or EVs, has been exam-ined in various carsharing business models. Moreover, new technologies have given rise to electromobility, or e-mobility, systems. This paper discusses the evolution of e-mobility in carsharing business models and the challenges and opportunities that EVs present to carsharing operators around the world. Operators are now anticipating in-creased EV proliferation into vehicle fleets over the next 5-10 years as technology,...

An Evaluation of Via Rideshare Service in West Sacramento: An Exploratory Analysis Through Surveys and Expert Interviews

Martin, Elliot, PhD
Nichols, Aqshems
Shaheen, Susan, PhD
2019

The UC Berkeley Transportation Sustainability Research Center (TSRC) conducted an evaluation for the City of West Sacramento of the pilot Via Rideshare System, which began providing rides to customers in May of 2018 and is currently in operation. This analysis presents the findings from surveys and expert interviews. Surveys were deployed to both users and non-users of the pilot service in order to assess the behavioral impacts of the system on users and to evaluate non-user response to the system and why they had not yet opted to not use the service. The user survey, which collected 224...

Carsharing

Shaheen, Susan, PhD
Cohen, Adam
Randolph, Michael
Farrar, Emily
Davis, Richard
Nichols, Aqshems
2019

Carsharing is a service in which individuals gain the benefits of private vehicle use without the costs and responsibilities of ownership. Individuals typically access vehicles by joining an organization that maintains a fleet of cars and light trucks. Fleets are usually deployed within neighborhoods and at public transit stations, employment centers, and colleges and universities. Typically, the carsharing operator provides gasoline, parking, and maintenance. Generally, participants pay a fee each time they use a vehicle (Shaheen, Cohen, Zohdy, 2016). Carsharing includes three types of...

Roundtrip Carsharing in New York City: An Evaluation of a Pilot Program and System Impacts

Martin, Elliot, PhD
Stocker, Adam
Nichols, Aqshems
Shaheen, Susan, PhD
2021

The study found that roundtrip carsharing in NYC mostly serves as a substitute for car rental, other personal vehicle modes, and personal vehicle ownership. The analysis showed that the broader pilot program had a modest impact on user behavior through carsharing (i.e., reduced vehicle ownership, reduced VMT, and mode shift). It also found that the pilot program likely expanded the membership base of carsharing to demographic cohorts that are traditionally underrepresented in carsharing populations (i.e., increased participation by lower education levels, lower household incomes, minority...