San Francisco

This report looks at the potential impacts autonomous vehicle deployment could have on parking demand and how that might impact urban development. The study focused on three distinct areas of San Francisco. The research found that, contrary to headlines about AV impacts on parking, achieving large reductions in parking demand based on AV deployment will not be easy. To achieve significant parking reductions, AVs would need to be shared (not privately owned), pooled (riders willing to pick up other passengers along the way), have widespread geographic deployment (across entire metropolitan areas), and would need to complement high-capacity transit. Without all or most of these factors, parking demand may only by marginally impacted by AV deployment. The study also found that if parking demand could be reduced, different areas of the city would see quite different results. While many areas in San Francisco would see minimal development impacts as parking is not currently a significant driver or limiter of development, more auto-dominated areas could see substantial impacts if parking demand could be reduced by more than 40%. This raises interesting questions of how these levels of parking demand reduction might impact more auto-dominated and suburban areas throughout the country. This research was funded by Waymo.

This report studies how the use of Transportation Network Companies are increasing the demand for curb space and the potential related issues such as access, circulation, and safety.

This report examines how TNCs contributed to increased roadway congestion in San Francisco between 2010 and 2016 relative to other factors such as population and employment growth, and transportation system changes.

What are transportation options for people with disabilities in San Francisco and how have these options been impacted by TNCs?

"NACTO research in seven cities shows that pairing bike share with protected bike lanes encourages riding, increases the visibility of people on bikes, and reduces overall biking risk."

Postmates gained approval to begin testing delivery robots in San Francisco.

This study examines the impacts of transportation network companies (TNCs) such as Uber and Lyft on trends in travel, parking, car-rental and the economy by analyzing the effects of ride-hailing at four major airports in the U.S.

This paper seeks to understand the potential causes of a decline in transit ridership by examining data from seven major U.S. cities – Boston, New York City, Washington D.C., Chicago, Denver, San Francisco and Los Angles.

This report discusses 761 walkable urban places in the United States' 30 largest metropolitan areas and their impact on social equity and educational attainment, and their economic impact on office, retail, and housing land uses.

Cities around the world are beginning to prioritize people over vehicles by closing major streets to traffic and opening them up to pedestrians, cyclists, public transit.

The growth of online shopping has increased packaging waste, especially cardboard boxes from apartment builds and residences as more consumers receive products directly to their homes.

Cities around the country are beginning to change their parking minimums in order to reduce vehicle dependency, lower construction costs, gain back valuable real estate and make urban areas more desirable.

The growth of ride-hailing services has led to more traffic and less transit use in the United States, contrary to predictions that suggested the opposite would happen when transportation network companies first started becoming popular. Some data shows that household vehicle ownership increased in cities where Uber and Lyft are most heavily used, while there is also a growing number of urban households that own zero or few cars. The article analyzes this data to determine whether Americans own fewer cars, and discusses how vehicle ownership relates to population growth in several cities.

San Francisco’s “parklet” trend of transforming parking spots into small public spaces has mixed reviews among residents. Some people think that they are provide spaces for neighborhoods to come together, while some believe they exacerbate gentrification.

Despite national averages of shrinking transit ridership, seven United States cities have seen increased ridership. These cities have seen growth because of their efforts to improve or expand their bus services.

GM's Cruise is working towards making an efficient, safe, and affordable new transportation mode. Self-described as "what you'd build if there were no cars," Cruise creates an experience geared towards the rider.

“Fehr & Peers was engaged by Lyft and Uber to determine their combined Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) in six metropolitan regions in September 2018 and compare that value to approximate total VMT in each area for the same period.”

The Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) created a press release discussing several guidelines for policymakers regarding regulations for micromobility.

"This document provides an evaluation of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s (SFMTA’s) Powered Scooter Share Pilot Program (Pilot) at the mid-point of the 12-month pilot period per the August 28, 2019 Pilot Powered Scooter Share Permit Program Policy Directive."

"This document provides an interim evaluation of the SFMTA’s Stationless Bikeshare Pilot Program, approximately 9 months after the start of the 18-month pilot period. The evaluation shows that the JUMP bikeshare system is generally performing well and complies with the terms and conditions set forth by the SFMTA. The evaluation also identifies several potential improvements. Based on this evaluation, the SFMTA recommends expanding the maximum fleet size for JUMP to 500 bikes for the duration of the 18- month pilot period. The SFMTA will complete its full evaluation of the pilot program in spring 2019, including recommendations for if and how to permanently permit the operation of stationless bikeshare in San Francisco."

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) was created as a result of state mandates in 2008 to mitigate climate change in the San Francisco Bay Area. This report evaluates the MTC's Climate Initiatives Program, a program with multiple projects designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by transportation.

Unregulated commuter shuttles in San Francisco created safety and congestion issues while loading and unloading passengers. To directly address these problems, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency created the Commuter Shuttle Pilot Program, a program that enabled eligible commuter shuttles to load and unload passengers at curb zones originally intended for Muni buses. This report evaluates the impacts of the 18-month pilot program which began in January 2014.

The Transportation Authority’s “Emerging Mobility Evaluation Report” provides the first comprehensive look at the rapidly evolving emerging mobility sector in San Francisco. The report outlines the range of services operating in San Francisco, covering everything from ride-hail services to autonomous vehicles and microtransit to scooter sharing. In the report, the Transportation Authority evaluates how these services and technologies align with the city’s 10 Guiding Principles related to collaboration, safety, transit, congestion, sustainability, equitable access, accountability, labor, disabled access, and financial impact.

"This paper presents a comprehensive discussion of the value capture mechanisms that cities can and do use to help finance their public transport systems. It highlights the most important findings from the literature and adds to it with new insights gained through case studies of public transit finance in six European and American cities. The objective is to inform a lively and productive dialogue on non-fare sources of public transport finance, and ultimately to find the best ways to finance the maintenance and extension of transit service in cities around the world."

Technology is transforming transportation. The ability to conveniently request, track, and pay for trips via mobile devices is changing the way people get around and interact with cities. This report examines the relationship of public transportation to shared modes, including bikesharing, carsharing, and ridesourcing services provided by companies such as Uber and Lyft. The research included participation by seven cities: Austin, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, DC. The objective of this research analysis is to examine these issues and explore opportunities and challenges for public transportation as they relate to technology-enabled mobility services, including suggesting ways that public transit can learn from, build upon, and interface with these new modes.

"With this white paper, we hope to explore the rapidly changing and disruptive nature of micromobility, and provide city officials useful information to deploy micromobility options in a safe, profitable and equitable way. We begin by defining micromobility and exploring the recent history of docked and dockless bikes and e-scooters. We then explore the challenges and opportunities facing cities, and illustrate a few examples of cities that are addressing these issues head-on. We conclude with a set of recommendations cities can consider as they work to regulate these new mobility technologies."

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 compare travel times for ridesourcing and taxis with those for public transit.

"This report attempts to address these questions by further exploring evidence of how TNCs are affecting the use of public transit and personal automobiles in several regions."

Food delivery apps are reshaping the restaurant industry—and how we eat—by inspiring digital-only establishments that don’t need a dining room or waiters.

When ride-hailing services stormed into cities in the 2010s they offered a grand utopian promise: By tapping into America’s vast reservoir of idle vehicles, on-demand, app-based rides would reduce the need for personal car ownership and ultimately remove cars from the road. But now, less than a decade into this experiment, the industry is ‘fessing up. The ride-hailing giants released a joint analysis showing that their vehicles are responsible for significant portions of VMT in six major urban centers. Still, Uber and Lyft’s combined share is still vastly outstripped by personal vehicles.

This article discusses the trend of corporate entities moving to downtown areas. The reasons include millennial generation, livability of downtown, industrial shift, active transportation access, etc.

In many cities, distinguishing between parking spaces, loading zones, and passenger drop-off sites is headache-inducing (and complicated for AI to understand). This new digital tool that maps curb use in real time will help.

The Mayor’s Proposed Fiscal Year (FY) 2018-19 and 2019-20 Budget for the City and County of San Francisco (the City) contains citywide budgetary and fiscal policy information as well as detailed departmental budgets for General Fund and Enterprise Departments.

The purpose of this report is to provide information on TNC activity in San Francisco, in order to help the San Francisco County Transportation Authority (Transportation Authority) fulfill its role as the Congestion Management Agency for San Francisco County. The report is also intended to inform the Transportation Authority board which is comprised of the members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, as well as state and local policy-makers in other arenas, and the general public, on the size, location and time-of-day characteristics of the TNC market in San Francisco.

According to case studies, transit systems not in a state of good repair are particularly vulnerable when unanticipated events occur. This can cost a local or regional economy millions of dollars in repairs and lost revenue. Along with the net gains or losses at stake to the U.S. economy, the condition of public transit infrastructure has regional and local implications. As cities throughout America compete to retain key occupations and businesses, the condition and quality of public transit infrastructure play a growing role in what makes a thriving regional economy. The total SGR (State of Good Repair) backlog was estimated to be at $89.9 billion in 2015, and is continuing to grow. Six case studies provide detailed examples of how different agencies are dealing with SGR issues.

The San Francisco County Transportation Authority will test self-driving shuttles on Treasure Island, as well as introduce a toll system from the Bay Bridge to the island.

Robotic parking will be an amenity starting in high-end buildings and becoming standard, like radios in cars, predicts local landlord Brian Veit.

"Cruise, the startup General Motors acquired to develop its self-driving car, will launch an autonomous taxi service on the gnarly, crowded streets of San Francisco," CEO Dan Ammann said Wednesday. It will not, however, do so by the end of this year, the deadline it set for itself in 2017. Instead, Cruise will spend the rest of 2019 expanding its tests across the city and working on the less technical aspects of running such a service, from charging its electric cars to working with regulators to soothing a public that may be wary of robots roaming the roads.