Shared Mobility

Shared Mobility: The Potential of Ride Hailing and Pooling

Susan Shaheen, PhD
2018

Shared mobility with pooled rides is the linchpin for leveraging vehicle automation and electrification to reduce congestion and emissions and to create livable urban communities. The sharing of rides is older than horse-and-buggy travel. Recent innovations make sharing easier, more convenient, and more efficient. Innovative mobility services premised on pooling can lower travel costs, mitigate congestion, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They also offer travelers more mobility choices between the traditional bookends of auto ownership and public transit. While the realm of...

Transportation Network Companies Might Be Pulling Riders from Public Transit, but This Could Change

Susan Shaheen, Elliot Martin, Adam Stocker
2023

Transportation Network Companies (TNCs, also known as ridehailing and ridesourcing) have expanded across California over the past decade and changed the way people travel. Using a smartphone, travelers can quickly summon a vehicle from almost anywhere and know what the estimated wait time, travel time, and cost will be before stepping into the vehicle. While TNCs are clearly addressing an unmet need for travelers, their growing popularity has raised a number of policy questions, including if TNCs are shifting people away from public transit and other travel modes (e.g., carshare,...

Impacts of Transportation Network Companies on Vehicle Miles Traveled, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, and Travel Behavior Analysis from the Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and San Francisco Markets

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

Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) like Lyft, Uber, and their global counterparts have expanded around the world over the past decade and have changed the way that people travel around cities and regions. The individual mobility benefits provided by TNCs have been clear. Passengers can summon a vehicle quickly via smartphone from almost anywhere to take them almost anywhere, with advance communication on estimated wait time, travel time, and cost. TNCs may also provide users with added mobility benefits, especially for those living in areas where public transit service is...

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

Lisa Rayle
Danielle Dai
Nelson Chan
Robert Cervero
Susan Shaheen, 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...

Good Practices for Local Governments and Private Companies Driving Change Together in Urban Mobility: Lessons Learned from One-Way Carsharing

Clara Terrien
Rémi Maniak
Bo Chen
Susan Shaheen, PhD
2016

Transforming urban mobility requires integrating public with private services into a single transportation system. Local governments and private companies face the challenge of how to coordinate themselves. An emblematic example is one-way carsharing (shared use of a fleet of vehicles that are typically free-floating throughout an urban area). Surprisingly, good practices for public and private players driving this change remain relatively undocumented. This paper proposes a systematic and balanced public-private approach to foster transportation innovation management. We review both...

One-Way Electric Vehicle Carsharing in San Diego: An Exploration of the Behavioral Impacts of Pricing Incentives on Operational Efficiency

Susan Shaheen, PhD, Elliot Martin, PhD, and Apaar Bansal
2018

This project is a two-year evaluation of pricing/incentives applied to the one-way, all electric carsharing system operated by car2go in San Diego, CA. This system is the only electric vehicle-based, one-way carsharing system with instant access (i.e., accessible without reservation) operating in the U.S. The goal of this project is to work with car2go and the San Diego region to develop and evaluate pricing/incentive structures for their members, which improve system operational efficiency (vehicle redistribution, state-of-charge management, use of vehicles placed at public transit...

Is It Time for a Public Transit Renaissance?

Susan Shaheen, PhD and Adam Cohen
2018

Travel behavior is undergoing a period of significant change in the United States. In 2016, public transit ridership fell in almost all major U.S. metropolitan regions. While Americans are still heavily dependent on the personal automobile for mobility, technological and societal changes are transforming how mobility is accomplished. This paper reviews the convergence of five trends leading to fundamental changes in public transportation: (1) changing generational behavior toward suburbanization and automobility; (2) new attitudes toward information communications technology; (3)...

Planning for Shared Mobility

Adam Cohen
Susan Shaheen, PhD
2018
In recent years, economic, environmental, and social forces have quickly given rise to the “sharing economy,” a collective of entrepreneurs and consumers leveraging technology to share resources, save money, and generate capital. Homesharing services, such as Airbnb, and peer-to-peer carsharing services, such as Getaround, have become part of a sociodemographic trend that has pushed the sharing economy from the fringe and more to the mainstream. The role of shared mobility in the broader landscape of urban mobility has become a frequent topic of discussion. Major shared transportation modes—...

Shared Mobility Policy Playbook

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

The Shared Mobility Policy Playbook provides an introduction and definitions of shared mobility services, mode-specific resources for agencies looking to develop policies in their community, and policy-focused tools demonstrating case studies and best practices for shared mobility.

This playbook has been designed for individuals and practitioners who want to know more about shared mobility and to communities interested in incorporating shared mobility into their transportation ecosystem. It is a practical guide with resources, information, and tools for local governments,...

Shared Micromoblity Policy Toolkit: Docked and Dockless Bike and Scooter Sharing

Susan Shaheen, PhD and Adam Cohen
2019

This toolkit outlines policies and practices for cities integrating shared micromobility into the built environment. The toolkit is divided into four sections that: 1) define shared micromobility and its impacts, 2) describe users of shared micromobility and market potential, 3) review best practices and case studies for curb space management and related policies, and 4) provide a summary of key findings from the toolkit.