Transportation Research Circular: U.S. Department of Transportation’s Mobility on Demand Initiative

The market for personal mobility is changing rapidly due to shifting social and cultural trends, as well as technological advances such as smartphones, information processing, and widespread data connectivity. Mobility on Demand (MOD) is an innovative transportation concept. On the supply side, transportation providers manage mobility rather than traffic through demand-responsive service, shifting use to alternate modes. On the demand side, mobility consumers reserve, dispatch, or use innovative mobility, public transportation, and goods delivery strategies in place of privately owned vehicles. The most-advanced forms of MOD incorporate trip planning and booking, real-time information, and fare payment into a single-user interface. Modes facilitated through MOD providers can include carsharing, bikesharing, ridesharing, ridesourcing, or transportation network companies (TNCs), scooter sharing, microtransit, shuttle services, public transportation, and other emerging transportation solutions.