About

In the last ten years, many new transportation options have emerged in cities across the country. From New York to Portland and dozens of cities in between, travelers can make use of bicycles and cars that are shared among users rather than owned by a single person. In other places, the public can take advantage of new taxi or ridesourcing companies such as Uber and Lyft. Early estimations show that the number of people using these shared-use modes of transportation has grown rapidly, having tripled in the last five years. At the same time, transit ridership continues to grow nationally, yet similar to the new transportation options, uptake is uneven across regions. Given how quickly the new services have emerged, the U.S. has few significant national or local policy initiatives to integrate the new transportation options into existing public transportation. In some parts of the country, politicians and local leaders have welcomed shared-use mobility options with excitement. Elsewhere, a hesitant approach has taken hold—one that is wary of their potential impact on the public transportation that governments have provided for the last 60 years.

As more of the public becomes familiar with shared-use mobility and as more providers enter the market, the urban transportation landscape will dramatically change. The shared aspect of the new services, combined with the growth of transit demand generally, suggests a massive potential to decrease car ownership and promote car-free and car-light lifestyles in cities across the country. A policy framework is necessary for governments to integrate shared-use mobility into their existing transportation networks to realize this potential and to ensure that new services support the long term transportation vision of the city.

To develop such a framework, TransitCenter collaborated with Sam Schwartz Engineering and the Shared-Use Mobility Center to study 29 government agencies, other government organizations, and private-sector stakeholders in Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, and Washington D.C. More than 80 interviews elicited key findings about the current state of practice and the shortcomings of current policy. These findings inform our three-part policy framework for agency leaders, policy directors, and city managers who want to harness shared-use options to improve mobility for the general public.

Conferences

"Transit Systems and Shared Mobility" was presented at numerous conferences and workshops in 2015.

SPUR, the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association
Conference Name, Date

American Public Transportation Association (APTA)
Sustainability & Public Transportation Workshop, August 2015

American Public Transportation Association (APTA)
Annual Conference, October 2015

National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO)
Designing Cities Conference, October 2015

Disrupting Mobility, November 2015