Caltrans shared mobility and modeling webinar, March 20, 2019

1. Shared Mobility and
MicromobilityToday
Susan Shaheen andAdamCohen
Civil and Environmental Engineering Department
Transportation Sustainability ResearchCenter
University of California, Berkeley

2. Disrupting
Mobility
Easter Morning 1900:
5th Avenue, NewYork City
SPOTTHE AUTOMOBILE
Easter Morning 1913:
5th Avenue, NewYork City
SPOTTHE HORSE
© UC Berkeley, 2019

3. What isShared
Mobility?
Shared mobility—the shared use of a vehicle, bicycle, or other mode—
is an innovative transportation strategy that enables users to gain
short-term access to transportation modes on an as-needed basis
Shaheen & Cohen, 2018© UC Berkeley, 2019

4. Shared
Mobility
Service Models
© UC Berkeley, 2019© UC Berkeley, 2019

5. Impacts of
Shared
Mobility
Shared mobility is commonly associated with numerous
transportation, environmental, social, and financial impacts.
These can include:
– Reduction in vehicle ownership
– Increased vehicle occupancy
– Reduction inVMT/VKT
– Lower GHG emissions
– Supports active lifestyles by encouraging cycling and walking
– Cost savings
– Increased convenience
– Increased access to emerging transportation modes
© UC Berkeley, 2019

6. Importance of
Real-Time
Information
Travelers increasingly expect to have real-time,
dynamic, actionable information before and during
their tripmaking
Sheehan, 2017© UC Berkeley, 2019

7. Role of
Smartphone
Apps
Smartphone applications provide
users with location-based, real-
time public and private
transportation options
§ Dynamic carpooling applications
§ Multi-modal trip planner with
bike-ped integration
© UC Berkeley, 2019

8. Mobility on
Demand
(MOD)
– Concept based on principle that transportation is a commodity where
modes have economic values that are distinguishable in terms of cost, journey
time, wait time, number of connections, convenience, and other attributes
– Includes passenger mobility and goods delivery
– May be used by transportation system managers to manage supply and
demand
© UC Berkeley, 2019 Shaheen et al., 2017

9. Mobility as a
Service (MaaS)
– Focuses on passenger mobility aggregation and subscription
services
– Brokering travel with suppliers, repackaging, and reselling as a
bundled package is a distinguishing characteristic of MaaS
© UC Berkeley, 2019 Shaheen & Cohen, 2018

10. Disrupting
Mobility
Shaheen & Cohen, 2018
© UC Berkeley, 2019

11. Micromobility
© UC Berkeley, 2019

12. Micromobility
– Sharing and electrification reshaping
personal mobility
– Electric motors are reinventing
personal mobility and being added to
equipment such as: bicycles, scooters
(push and moped styles), skateboards,
and unicycles
– Emerging modes and a changing
marketplace make it challenging for
cities and public agencies to
understand: 1) nature of services and 2)
where they should be permitted to
operate (in motion and parked)
Shaheen & Cohen, 2018© UC Berkeley, 2019

13. Shared
Micromobility
Operational
Models
Bikesharing and scooter sharing includes
various service models including:
– Station Based: bicycle or scooter is
checked out at one station location and
can be returned to a different
designated station location
– Dockless/Stationless: Bicycles and
scooters can be picked up and parked
within a defined area at a rack or along
the sidewalk; can be locked/unlocked
with a smartphone and/or locking
mechanism attached to the equipment
– Flexible/Hybrid: Users have the option
of checking out and returning
equipment to/from a station or
anywhere within a defined area
(allowing station-based and dockless
operations)
Shaheen & Cohen , 2018© UC Berkeley, 2019

14. Micromobility
By the
Numbers
Bikesharing (as of May 2018)
– The U.S. had 261 operators with
more than 48,000 bicycles (Russell
Meddin, unpublished data)
– Dockless bikesharing accounted for
~44% of all bikesharing bikes in the
U.S. and approximately 4% of
bikesharing trips as of 2017
(NACTO, 2018)
– Between 2010 to 2017, 123 million
bikesharing trips have been
completed in the U.S.; 35 million
trips completed in 2017 (NACTO
2018)
Scooter Sharing (as of September 2018)
– Lime had 11.5 million rides on its bikes
and scooters
– Bird had over 10 million rides
– Both Lime and Bird operate in 100
cities worldwide
– Spin operates in 18 cities in the U.S.
– Skip operates in the SF Bay Area,
Portland, and Washington D.C.
– Scoot Networks available in San
Francisco and Barcelona
– An estimated 65,000 scooters are
available nationally
Shaheen & Cohen, 2018© UC Berkeley, 2019

15. Common
LocalConcerns
– Fear of bicycle/scooter graveyards
– Damage, theft, and vandalism
– Safety considerations
– Helmet use
– Sidewalk/curb space management
– Many dockless bicycles and e-
scooters feature locking mechanisms
that may not require racks, which can
cause riders to park them without
considering their surroundings
– System imbalance
– Legal operational areas
– Equity
Shaheen & Cohen, 2018© UC Berkeley, 2019

16. Local
Responses
– A number of cities have implemented permit
processes for dockless micromobility
services
– Common policy aspects include:
– Bicycle equipment standards
– Liability insurance and/or indemnifications
of liability
– Plans for initial deployment, re-balancing,
and system expansion
– Parking guidelines
– Process for enforcement, fines, and
equipment impounding
– Municipal fees
Example of Seattle’s painted dockless
bikesharing parking zone.
Diagram showing different sidewalk zones
from Seattle’s dockless bikesharing
permit.
Shaheen & Cohen, 2018© UC Berkeley, 2019

17. Emerging
Issues
– How do we understand and
leverage impacts of innovative
transportation technologies?
– How do we plan and adapt public
rights-of-way (both street and curb
space management)?
– How do we incorporate shared
mobility into planning and
modeling?
– How do we prepare for an
automated vehicle future?
© UC Berkeley, 2019

18. Acknowledgments
– Caltrans
– USDOT & FTA
– MinetaTransportation
Institute
– 11th Hour
– Smart Cities Lab and ICCT
Contact Info:
Susan Shaheen, PhD
sshaheen@berkeley.edu
Twitter: SusanShaheen1
LinkedIn: Susan Shaheen
Adam Cohen, MCRP
apcohen@berkeley.edu
Twitter: AskAdamCohen
LinkedIn: AskAdamCohen
© UC Berkeley, 2019