Shared Mobility

Shared-use mobilitythe shared use of a vehicle, bicycle or other low-speed modeis an innovative transportation solution that enables users to have short-term access to a transportation mode. In North America, shared-use mobility encompasses the submarkets of carsharing, bikesharing, ridesharing, on-demand ride services, scooter sharing, shuttle services, and other emerging industries. In October 2013, the University of California, Berkeley’s Transportation Sustainability Research Center (TSRC) hosted the inaugural Shared-Use Mobility Summit in San Francisco, California. The summit was a...

In October 2013, TSRC hosted the inaugural Shared-Use Mobility Summit in San Francisco, a two-day event facilitating a lively dialogue among mobility providers, policymakers, governmental agencies, non-profits, affiliated industries, technologists, academics, and other stakeholders on the current state of the practice, opportunities, and obstacles to market expansion in the fields of carsharing, public bikesharing, ridesharing, ondemand ride services, employer shuttles, and related sharing economy affiliates. Day One featured sessions on industry trends, success stories, the sharing...

The rapid growth of on-demand ride services such as uberX and Lyft, or “ridesourcing,” has prompted debate among policy makers and stakeholders. At present, ridesourcing’s usage and impacts are not well understood. Key questions include: how ridesourcing and traditional taxis compare with respect to trip types, customers, and locations served; whether ridesourcing complements or competes with public transit; and potential impacts on vehicle kilometers traveled. We address these questions using an intercept survey. In spring 2014, 380 complete surveys were collected from three...

Peer-to-peer (P2P) carsharing is an innovative approach to vehicle sharing in which vehicle owners temporarily rent their personal automobiles to others in their surrounding area. P2P carsharing belongs to the larger sharing economy, an economic model premised on the notion of collaborative consumption as opposed to ownership. This study examines current public perception of P2P carsharing and potential market characteristics through an intercept survey conducted in the San Francisco Bay Area. Three hundred respondents from 14 locations in San Francisco (N=150) and Oakland (N=150) were...