Shared Mobility

In September 2017, Hurricane Irma prompted one of the largest evacuations in U.S. history of over six million people. This mass movement of people, particularly in Florida, required considerable amounts of public resources and infrastructure to ensure the safety of all evacuees in both transportation and sheltering. Given the extent of the disaster and the evacuation, Hurricane Irma is an opportunity to add to the growing knowledge of evacuee behavior and the factors that influence a number of complex choices that individuals make before, during, and after a disaster. At the same time,...

Carpooling allows travelers to share a ride to a common destination and can include several forms of sharing a ride, such as casual carpooling and real-time carpooling. Because carpooling reduces the number of automobiles needed by travelers, it is often associated with numerous societal benefitsincluding: 1) reductions in energy consumption and emissions, 2) congestion mitigation, and 3) reduced parking infrastructure demand. In recent years, economic, environmental, and social forces coupled with technological innovations are encouraging shared and pooled services. Shared mobility is...

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...