This special issue of the International Journal of Sustainable Transportation highlights developments in shared-use vehicle research, in particular carsharing, public bikesharing, and personal vehicle sharing. Since the mid-1980s, shared-use vehicle services have gained momentum across the world. Developments include a range of operational models—private, non-profit, and governmental ventures; advanced technology; worldwide entry and growth; collaboration and competition; and increased activity by auto rental companies and automakers.
This synthesis provides a summary and comparative analysis of actions states across the United States are taking inresponse to automated vehicles (AVs). The research focuses on state-level stakeholder forums (e.g., task forces, committees) and state-level strategic actions (e.g., studies, initiatives, programs) initiated by a state legislature, agovernor, or a state agency. The analysis found that AV stakeholder forums and strategic actions address a diverse set offocus areas, but they pay minimal attention to the implications of AVs on the environment, public health, social equity, land use, public transit, goods movement, and emergency response. Also, forums and strategic actions commonly include members from state transportation departments, the legislature, and academia; however, representatives from industry and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are included less often. Academia and researchers participate in themajority of AV forums and actions, either in an advisory capacity (i.e., sharing expertise and experience) and/or through conducting research. Based on this analysis, the synthesis concludes with a recommendation for California to form a state-level working group representing leaders from the public sector, industry, NGOs, and academia to advise the Governor and the Legislature on AV policy across a range of focus areas.
In 2017, researchers from UC Berkeley's Transportation Sustainability Research Center and Institute of Transportation Studies produced eight policy briefs on shared mobility. Shared mobility – the shared use of a vehicle, bicycle, or other travel mode – services are experiencing rapid growth and expansion. This is, in part, due to the launch of innovative business models across California, and their use of the smartphone as a way to enable on-demand transportation options. There is a need to clarify emerging terms and best practices for policymakers amidst the fast-paced developments of the field. Fluency in data sharing opportunities and standards, funding options, and equity considerations will be needed to implement flexible, forward-thinking policies. These topics are covered in the briefs that follow. Each brief includes a presentation of research findings, description of the research approach, and recommendations for the California Legislature. Policymakers and legislatures can refer to these briefs for digestible explanations of research findings and suggestions of ways to apply research to improve California's transportation system
In 2020, the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic enveloped the world, leading to a public health crisis that profoundly changed allaspects of society, especially multiple sectors in transportation such as public transit and shared mobility. With so much uncertaintyabout the future of travel, the transportation sector needs to move rapidly to shape the nature of public transit and shared mobilityservices during the COVID-19 recovery period. Consequently, the University of California Institute of Transportation Studies (UC ITS) and the Transportation Research Board's (TRB) Executive Committee launched a scenario planning exercise from June to September 2020 involving 36 transportation experts. The exercise resulted in a series of policy options and research directions across three timeframes (i.e., within 12 months, one to three years, four to six years) that could guide the recovery of the public transit and shared mobility industries. This report offers several key takeaways. First, external forces beyond COVID-19 (e.g., economy, political will, etc.) will significantly drive the future of public transit and shared mobility and determine the effectiveness and feasibility of any policy strategies. Second, while public transit and shared mobility face a dire future in the short run, steps can be taken immediately to reduce the effects of the current crisis, while also laying the groundwork for more sustainable transportation in the future beyond COVID-19. Actions taken to only address the current crisis will not prepare public transit and shared mobility for the future. Finally, future policies and actions will not be effective without in-depth analysis and development. Research and lessons learned from demonstration and pilot projects will be critical for crafting policies, identifying all positive and negative outcomes, and shaping actions toward a future transportation system that is more resilient, socially equitable, and environmentally friendly.
This article examines four phases in bicycle evolution in China from initial entry and slow growth (1900s to 1978), to rapid growth (1978 to 1995), bicycle use reduction (1995 to 2002), and policy diversification (2002 to present). Two bicycle innovations, electric bikes, and public bikesharing (the shared use of a bicycle fleet), are also explored in this article. Electric bikes could provide a transitional mode on the pathway to bicycle and public transportation integration or to small battery electric cars. Four lessons have been learned from China's electric bike experience relevant to government policy and management. Public bikesharing represents an important step towards integrating the bicycle with bus, metro, and rail systems. Five early operational lessons have been identified from China's limited public bikesharing experience.
Intelligent transportation systems (ITS) have primarily focused on systems management. To further improve connectivity and safety in the future, ITS might embrace a more holistic planning approach. While the future of ITS remains an open question, its evolution is closely linked to how the world evolves on many dimensions¾social, political, economic, legal, and environmental. In this paper, the authors present results from four expert workshops. These consisted of an initial steering committee workshop (February 2011), two expert scenario-planning workshops (June 2011), and a final steering committee workshop (July 2011). The scenario planning workshops explored the implications of alternative futures on ITS and incorporated a broad interdisciplinary approach in developing a long-term transportation vision (2030 to 2050 time horizon) for the United States. Twenty-four experts, representing diverse disciplines, participated in a series of workshops to envision plausible futures and to assess their effects on the transportation system. By exploring different futures, experts identified opportunities and barriers for implementing advanced seamless transportation systems. Opportunities included the deployment of adaptable, integrated technology and transportation infrastructure to address natural disasters and climate change. The most significant barriers were funding and politics. The experts suggested that financial barriers be overcome through innovative funding techniques and improved public outreach. Building upon the experts' recommendations, several visions for an integrated ITS approach, which addresses social and environmental challenges in the future, were created. These included private-public partnerships; distributed implementation models (e.g., localized); and the development of seamless transportation systems to reduce energy consumption, emissions, and road congestion.
This article examines four phases in bicycle evolution in China from initial entry and slow growth (1900s to 1978), to rapid growth (1978 to 1995), bicycle use reduction (1995 to 2002), and policy diversification (2002 to present). Two bicycle innovations, electric bikes, and public bikesharing (the shared use of a bicycle fleet), are also explored in this article. Electric bikes could provide a transitional mode on the pathway to bicycle and public transportation integration or to small battery electric cars. Four lessons have been learned from China's electric bike experience relevant to government policy and management. Public bikesharing represents an important step towards integrating the bicycle with bus, metro, and rail systems. Five early operational lessons have been identified from China's limited public bikesharing experience.
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 public policy and business management literature and build a framework to help local governments and companies innovate together (organizational structures, project management processes, and profitability assessment tools). We use this framework to examine both public and private experiences through a case study analysis with five one-way carsharing services in Europe (Paris, Munich) and the United-States (San Francisco, Portland, Seattle). For each we conducted expert interviews with the local government and the private operator. This paper provides recommendations for both sectors. First, public and private players should have specific organizations, separated from the core business. Second, they should co-manage innovation since pilot projects lack certainty and require risk management. Third, a new approach that emphasizes value in the role of pilot project learning and capability building.
A significant portion of the population stayed, and continue to stay, at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With more people staying home, online shopping increased along with trips related to pickups and deliveries. To gain a better understanding of the change in retail purchases and related travel, UC Berkeley researchers compared pre-pandemic shopping to pandemic-related shifts in consumer purchases in the greater Sacramento area for nine types of essential and non-essential commodities (e.g., groceries, meals, clothing, paper products, cleaning supplies). In May 2020, the research team resampled 327 respondents that participated in the 2018 Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) household travel survey. The 2018 SACOG survey collected responses over a rolling six-week period from April to May 2018 and asked residents about their motivations for, attitudes toward, and ease of use of online shopping. They were also were asked about the number of e-commerce purchases made, and the number of deliveries and pickups made from those e-commerce purchases for each commodity type. In addition, respondents also reported changes (less or more) in their behavior from a typical week in January or February 2020 (prior to the COVID-19 pandemic) for: 1) tripmaking, e-commerce purchases, and delivery and pick up frequencies; 2) purchase sizes; 3) distances traveled; and 4) modes used for in-person trips. This brief highlights findings from an analysis on changes in frequency of purchases, deliveries and pickups, and order sizes.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought about dramatic shifts in travel, including shopping trips. We investigated changes in eshopping for food and non-food items by supplementing an April to May 2018 household travel survey (n=3,956 households) conducted by the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) with a May 2020 follow-on panel survey (n=313 households) during one week early in the pandemic. Results demonstrate that impacts from added pickups and deliveries in the SACOG region during the first two months of the COVID-19 pandemic were limited and did not overwhelm curb management at retail, restaurant, and grocery establishments. Results also show that during the pandemic e-commerce tended to replace non-food shopping trips, but complemented restaurant and grocery trips. However, Forty percent of the sample households — predominantly lower income and/or older populations — still shopped only in-store for food while more affluent households appear to have isolated themselves from virus exposure through more extensive online shopping. We recommend extending the forms of accepted payment for online shopping and reducing fees and markups based upon payment method to reduce barrier to online shopping for those with limited resources. We identify possible consequences (e.g., more vehicle miles traveled and higher demand for curbside parking) if e-commerce food purchasing continues to grow post-pandemic or if in-person retail shopping returns to normal.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought about dramatic shifts in travel, including shopping trips. We investigated changes in eshopping for food and non-food items by supplementing an April to May 2018 household travel survey (n=3,956 households) conducted by the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) with a May 2020 follow-on panel survey (n=313 households) during one week early in the pandemic. Results demonstrate that impacts from added pickups and deliveries in the SACOG region during the first two months of the COVID-19 pandemic were limited and did not overwhelm curb management at retail, restaurant, and grocery establishments. Results also show that during the pandemic e-commerce tended to replace non-food shopping trips, but complemented restaurant and grocery trips. However, Forty percent of the sample households — predominantly lower income and/or older populations — still shopped only in-store for food while more affluent households appear to have isolated themselves from virus exposure through more extensive online shopping. We recommend extending the forms of accepted payment for online shopping and reducing fees and markups based upon payment method to reduce barrier to online shopping for those with limited resources. We identify possible consequences (e.g., more vehicle miles traveled and higher demand for curbside parking) if e-commerce food purchasing continues to grow post-pandemic or if in-person retail shopping returns to normal.
The Booz Allen Team explored market size and potential barriers to Urban Air Mobility (UAM) by focusing on three potential markets – Airport Shuttle, Air Taxi, and Air Ambulance. We found that the Airport Shuttle and Air Taxi markets are viable, with a significant total available market value in the U.S. of $500 billion, for a fully unconstrained scenario. In this unconstrained best-case scenario, passengers would have the ability to access and fly a UAM at any time, from any location to any destination, without being hindered by constraints such as weather, infrastructure, or traffic volume. Significant legal and regulatory, weather, certification, public perception, and infrastructure constraints exist, which reduce the market potential for these applications to only about 0.5% of the total available market, or $2.5 billion, in the near term. However, we determined that these constraints can be addressed through ongoing intra-governmental partnerships, government and industry collaboration, strong industry commitment, and existing legal and regulatory enablers. We found that the Air Ambulance market is not a viable market if served by electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles due to technology constraints but may potentially be viable if a hybrid VTOL aircraft are utilized.
