New mobility

Ride-hailing is a climate problem for two primary reasons. First, a typical ride-hailing trip is more polluting than a trip in a personal car, mainly as a result of “deadheading”the miles a ride-hailing vehicle travels without a passenger between hired rides. The second reason is that ride-hailing is not just replacing personal car trips; instead, it is increasing the total number of car trips. In the absence of ride-hailing, many would-be ride-hailing passengers would take mass transit, walk, bike, or forgo the trip. This report focuses on ride-hailing, but many of its findings and recommendations apply to taxis as well. For example, electrification, increased pooling, and improved coordination with mass transit would lessen the negative impacts of taxi service on transportation systems and the environment.

This report builds on an on-going research effort that investigates emerging mobility patterns and the adoption of new mobility services. In this report, the authors focus on the environmental impacts of various modality styles and the frequency of ridehailing use among a sample of millennials (i.e., born from 1981 to 1997) and members of the preceding Generation X (i.e., born from 1965 to 1980). The total sample for the analysis included in this report includes 1,785 individuals who participated in a survey administered in Fall 2015 in California. In this study, the researchers focus on the vehicle miles traveled, the energy consumption, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for transportation purposes of various groups of travelers. 

In 2020, the microtransit company. “Via” partnered with Jersey City to provide on-demand car rides to underserved communities whose mass public transit routes had been canceled due to low ridership during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. The company aims to complement existing transit which operates comprehensively and frequently in the central areas of Jersey City. Via offers rides outside of this well-served district but not within to minimize competition with public transit. The same company launched in Arlington, Texas in 2017. Arlington, which was the largest city in America without a public transit system, opted to contract Via to provide an alternative transportation mode to driving in a personal vehicle. The on-demand service offers point-to-point rides within Arlington and connections to intercity train stations to Dallas-Fort Worth.

Jarrett Walker, author of "Human Transit: How Clearer Thinking about Public Transit Can Enrich our Communities and Lives," writes about the costs and benefits of microtransit on his blog, "Human Transit". Walker is skeptical of Microtransit. He argues that it is spacially, economically, and fiscally inefficient and should only be used in very rare and specific cases.

Transport accounts for 40 % of global emissions, 72 % of which comes from road transport, and private cars are responsible for 60 % of road transport emissions. In cities, self-service bike sharing systems are quickly developing and are intended to offer an alternative and cleaner mode of transport than the car. However, the sustainability of such schemes is often taken as a given, rather than thoroughly evaluated. To address this gap, in this paper we undertake a life cycle assessment (LCA) of a public self-service bike sharing system in the city of Edinburgh, UK, modelling the production, operation and disposal elements of the system, but discounting additional food intake by users.

This report builds on an on-going research effort that investigates emerging mobility patterns and the adoption of new mobility services. In this report, the authors focus on the environmental impacts of various modality styles and the frequency of ridehailing use among a sample of millennials (i.e., born from 1981 to 1997) and members of the preceding Generation X (i.e., born from 1965 to 1980). The total sample for the analysis included in this report includes 1,785 individuals who participated in a survey administered in Fall 2015 in California. In this study, the researchers focus on the vehicle miles traveled, the energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for transportation purposes of various groups of travelers. 

Shared micro-mobility services are rapidly expanding yet little is known about travel behaviour. Understanding mode choice, in particular, is quintessential for incorporating micro-mobility into transport simulations in order to enable effective transport planning. We contribute by collecting a large dataset with matching GPS tracks, booking data and survey data for more than 500 travellers, and by estimating a first choice model between eight transport modes, including shared e-scooters, shared e-bikes, personal e-scooters and personal e-bikes.

Bike share systems are expanding efforts to be more equitable and accessible to everyone by offering adaptive bicycle options to people who might otherwise be unable to ride. These systems tend to range from the inclusion of electric bikes and standard trikes into the existing systems to offer a more full range of adaptive bicycle options for use at rental locations. Surveys of residents living in several low-income communities of color (n = 1,885) are used to explore the potential need for adaptive bike share options in urban locations. A national survey of cities and bike share operators (n = 70) is used to document the prevalence and basic models of adaptive bike share programming currently in place. Interviews conducted with bike share representatives in select cities with adaptive bike share programs provide context and details on how specific programs operate. Finally, interviews with adaptive bike share participants (n = 5) in Portland, Oregon, help to illuminate users’ experiences, including the perceived value and potential improvements for adaptive bike share.

Technology-enhanced bikeshare features a dockless system with GPS-tracked electric bikes and a mobile app. As an additional transportation mode, it offers users greater accessibility and more flexibility compared to traditional bikeshare. This paper examines the causal impact of a tech-enhanced bikeshare program on public transit ridership, using evidence from a mid-sized metropolitan area in the Midwest of the United States. 

Whim is an app service that consolidates transportation services into a monthly subscription. The app includes access to taxis, public transportation, and rental cars. The app's goal is to reduce vehicle ownership by offering convenient access to multiple alternatives.

Researchers at the Harvard Kennedy School's Taubman Center for State and Local Government outline potential policy issues that will arise as autonomous vehicles become more popular. The authors recommend five policies cities can implement to get out in front of autonomous vehicle deployments to ensure that autonomous vehicles can support community goals.

AARP Public Policy Institute, RAND Corporation and Urbanism Next collaborated to better understand the ways in which shared mobility and AVs will be impacting older adults. Through a review of literature, interviews with public and private sector players in this arena, and a roundtable with over 25 experts from around the country, the project team developed a framework that identifies a range of factors around new mobility and AVs that will be affecting older adults’ mobility, independence and safety. The framework is a guide for governments and private sector companies to help them think broadly about impacts, understand barriers, and can serve as an internal checklist to guide future policy, research and development.

Using experience from working on the Knight AV Initiative, Urbanism Next created this white paper to provide a foundation for public sector agencies to approach autonomous vehicle deployment and policy with a focus on equity. This report outlines ways that public agencies can identify community needs and shape deployment to ensure that AVs will be accessible for all. 

Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) will impose challenges on cities that are currently difficult to fully envision yet critical to begin addressing. This research makes an incremental step toward quantifying the impacts that AVs by examining current associations between transportation network company (TNC) trips — often viewed as a harbinger of AVs — and parking revenue in Seattle. Using Uber and Lyft trip data combined with parking revenue and built environment data, this research models projected parking revenue in Seattle. Results demonstrate that total revenue generated in each census tract will continue to increase at current rates of TNC trip-making; parking revenue will, however, start to decline if or when trips levels are about 4.7 times higher than the average 2016 level. The results also indicate that per-space parking revenue is likely to increase by about 2.2 percent for each 1,000 additional TNC trips taken if no policy changes are taken. The effects on revenue will vary quite widely by neighborhood, suggesting that a one-size-fits-all policy may not be the best path forward for cities. Instead, flexible and adaptable policies that can more quickly respond (or better yet, be proactive) to changing AV demand will be better suited at managing the changes that will affect parking revenue.

In this report, the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) evaluates the second e-scooter pilot project conducted in Portland, Oregon. PBOT used data and feedback from the community to evaluate the e-scooter pilot project, specifically evaluating "the potential for e-scooters to advance equity, ease traffic congestion and reduce climate-harming emissions."

Before the pandemic, Urbanism Next developed a framework organizing the disruptions to cities caused by emerging transportation technologies on land use, urban design, building design, transportation, and real estate. COVID-19 has disrupted the trajectory of these emerging technologies and will, in turn, change some our original assumptions. This paper revisits the original Urbanism Next framework, taking into account the cascading impacts of the pandemic. This report is one of two reports completed by Urbanism Next on the impacts of Covid-19.

"Sacramento Regional Transit District (SacRT) has adopted a groundbreaking micromobility strategy to address the “first mile/last mile problem.” The agency has partnered with JUMP, an electric micromobility provider, to offer on-demand access to and from light rail stations."

"Developed for cities, by cities, this guidance outlines best practices for cities and public entities regulating and managing shared micromobility services on their streets."

"The City of Santa Monica designed a pilot program to test shared electric scooters and bikes operated by private companies, using a flexible approach that could be responsive to community needs, technological advancements, and a nascent and evolving industry."

"This report aims to identify policy issues related to the use of AVs that will have a bearing on public health and to identify research topics that will support informed decisionmaking related to AVs and public health."

This paper explores the impacts of AVs on car trips using a case study of Victoria, Australia, specifically studying the potential increase in new trips and trip diversions from other modes such as public transport.

This playbook is a continuously updated site that explores the core components of a comprehensive shared micromobility policy for local governments to consider.

This report explores how smart mobility technologies can address the current and future needs of transportation disadvantaged communities. It looks at the barriers different communities experience regarding access to smart mobility technologies, and potential solutions to overcoming these barriers.

Transportation network companies like Uber and Lyft came onto the market with the mission to reduce congestion in cities, however data from major cities around the U.S. shows that they may be having the opposite impact on congestion and public transportation.

The introduction of shared autonomous vehicles (SAVs) in cities could potentially increase the number of vehicle miles traveled (VMT). The implementation of dynamic ride-sharing (DRS) systems could limit this increase and potentially result in a net reduction in VMT.

Ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft are changing the way that people move around cities, affecting transit use, active transportation and congestion. Due to the rapid rise in popularity and lack of available data, city and transportation planners have been limited in their ability to make long-term decisions about transportation infrastructure.

Uber is working on a plan to launch an urban air taxi service and has just joined with California-based aerospace company Joby Aviation.

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.

Mobile robotics are traditionally designed using complex and expensive hardware, however now there is growing demand for low-cost solutions that are more specific to the given application.

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.

Despite a growing economy, there has been a decrease in the average miles driven due in part to alternate modes of transportation and more opportunities to work and shop remotely.

In an effort to reduce personal vehicle usage and its carbon footprint Minneapolis has launched new “mobility hubs” where multiple modes of low- or no-carbon transportation are available in one convenient place.

“The prenatal trip assistance study will address Columbus’s high infant mortality rates by connecting pregnant women without reliable transportation to dependable, timely and safe rides to doctors’ appointments and pharmacies.”

Automation of personal and transit vehicles will change the vehicles themselves, but also the right-of-way that governs their use. These changes bring an opportunity to improve transit systems. High capacity transit must become a more attractive mode of transit in order to remain competitive with personal and shared vehicles.

This report outlines examples of integrated mobility initiatives that can help guide transit agencies in determining ways to move toward more integrated mobility.

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.

Shared micromobility, which includes shared bikes, e-bikes and scooters, is becoming more popular in the US.

This paper surveys emerging mobility services in order to highlight the key points of the concept of “mobility as a service” and to develop an index that evaluates the level of mobility integration of each service.

This article studies how emerging “smart mobility” systems will affect equity issues in Portland, Oregon. It suggests that affordable and improved public transit, ridesharing and active transportation could address many transportation challenges.

A website for the European Commission’s New Mobility Services (NMS) initiative

Robin Chase, co-founder and former CEO of Zipcar and cofounder of NUMO, discusses the misconceptions around Mobility as a Service and its potentials for public benefit.

The report is intended to provide guidance to Australia and New Zealand in planning road changes for the introduction of automated vehicles. Key issues that are discussed in this report include physical infrastructure, digital infrastructure, and road operations. The analysis of each issue includes different possible use cases of automated vehicles and includes discussion of optimal conditions required to support the introduction of automated vehicles.

This resource provides an overview of what technologies connected and automated include and some of the impacts they will have on safety and other transportation issues.

“This research aimed to look at the future of mobility and MaaS from a perspective of society, to look not only at the challenges to enabling a MaaS ecosystem but the potential direct and indirect effects on the wider transport system and city.”

“The purpose of this paper is to develop a topological approach to characterizing the MaaS concept in order to: 1) facilitate more meaningful discussions of the MaaS concept, 2) enable the ‘comparison of’ different services, 3) understand MaaS’ requirements and effects in terms of society, business, users/ customers, and technology, and 4) aid in the integration of societal goals.”

NACTO studied the data from all available sources about docked and dockless bike share systems. They found that docked bike share systems show steady growth, while dockless bike share systems are more volatile.

In New York City, conflict has erupted between private ride-hailing services and neutral third-party mobility platforms battling for bikeshare access. Companies like Lyft and Mobility as a Service (MaaS) providers such as Transit both want to remove the friction of switching in between modes for commuters, however the ride-sharing companies want to build brand loyalty while third-party MaaS platforms want to offer access to all mobility options available.

The NUMO New Mobility Atlas is an extensive, data-driven platform mapping the rapid proliferation of new mobility, including micromobility, in cities around the world. Developed in partnership with partner organizations from the public and private sectors, the Atlas uses open data to track which shared transportation options — currently dockless scooters, bicycles and mopeds — are available in cities.

This is a fact sheet suitable for use as a printed handout on Urbanism Next's topline research findings regarding micromobility.

This is a fact sheet suitable for use as a printed handout on Urbanism Next's topline research findings regarding TNCs.

Sustainable, inclusive, prosperous, and resilient cities depend on transportation that facilitates the safe, efficient, and pollution-free flow of people and goods, while also providing affordable, healthy, and integrated mobility for all people. The pace of technology-driven innovation from the private sector in shared transportation services, vehicles, and networks is rapid, accelerating, and filled with opportunity. At the same time, city streets are a finite and scarce resource.These principles, produced by a working group of international NGOs, are designed to guide urban decision-makers and stakeholders toward the best outcomes for all.

This report summarizes the major assumptions, predictions and forecasts that have been made for autonomous vehicles. It emphasizes their impact and takes focus on the effects it will have on previously immobile people and what it will take to integrate them legislatively.

"Private Mobility, Public Interest is a report for public-sector leaders committed to making it easy for their citizens to get where they want to go. We identify actionable short-term opportunities for today’s transit agencies and municipalities to work with emerging mobility providers. This report is an independent analysis built on a foundation of more than 100 interviews with industry representatives from the public and private sectors."

The University of Oregon conducted research for the cities of Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver to understand how the deployment of autonomous vehicles may impact greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Based on the range of possible outcomes, the cities hope to better understand the policies and programmatic choices available to mitigate negative impacts of AVs and ensure that they can accomplish the goals stated in their climate action, land use, and transportation plans. By working together, each city hopes to learn from each other—as well as cities from across North America—to achieve their climate-related goals.

The transportation sector accounts for the largest portion of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to all other sectors, and GHGs are once again on the rise. At the same time, new mobility technologies are being introduced and fully autonomous vehicles (AVs) are anticipated to be deployed, at least to varying extents, within 5-10 years. (Waymo, Google’s self-driving project, is already operating a limited robotaxi service in Phoenix, AZ with a fleet of AVs.) AVs have the potential to improve safety, reduce congestion, and increase mobility— but they could also increase congestion, increase vehicle miles/ kilometers traveled (VMT/VKT), and erode transit, walk, and bike mode share, exacerbating existing conditions. The cities of Portland, OR; Seattle, WA; and Vancouver, BC have adopted climate action plans with the goal of dramatically reducing GHG emissions. This policy brief is intended to help the three cities better understand how AVs may help or hinder them in achieving their goals, and what recommended actions to take at this critical moment in time.

This purpose of this report is to help the cities of Gresham, Oregon and Eugene, Oregon understand the potential impacts of new mobility technologies – with an emphasis on autonomous vehicles (AVs) – and prepare a policy response. While Gresham and Eugene are case studies, it provides communities of all sizes information on how new mobility services could impact their communities and what they can do about it, from broad strategies to specific policy responses. While this work focuses on the various new mobility and goods delivery services that currently exist, the framework that is discussed here is also applicable to emerging technologies that haven’t yet been introduced, such as AVs.

The Future of Mobility Scenario Game is a role-playing game that allows practitioners, communities, and anyone who wants to play it to experience the future of mobility in a city from different perspectives.

EcoLogistics Self-monitoring tool is a calculation tool developed for cities to estimate their greenhouse gas emissions from urban freight transport. It allows the assessment of baseline and target scenarios wherein specific technologies or strategies are hypothetically implemented. The tool also acts as a monitoring tool for cities to make meaningful comparisons over time and with other cities in terms of urban freight emissions.

Citilabs offers a number of analytical and visualization products to aid in modeling population movement, scenario planning, and transit operations.

This document contains the permit requirements for Portland's 2018 E-Scooter Pilot Program.

This document outlines all the permit requirements for vendors participating in Portland's 2019 E-Scooter Pilot. This set of requirements is largely based on the 2018 E-Scooter Pilot requirements but features more comprehensive requirements related to data sharing and the longevity of the vehicles.

This is the set of permit requirements for vendors to participate in the Chicago Dockless Bikeshare Pilot Program.

This report created by Toole Design and commissioned by the City of Spokane provides analysis of a micromobility pilot launched in 2018. Toole Design considered survey results, field evaluation, and data reports when forming their recommendation for the city.

"This document describes the permit process for the City of Fremont’s Shared Active Transportation pilot program. Shared active transportation (SAT) programs consist of bicycles, electric bicycles, and/or motorized scooters (“SAT vehicles” or “devices”) that are deployed in the public right of way for use by members, subscribers, customers, or the general public. This document describes program terms and conditions, required application contents, and the process and timeline for review of applications. The objective of this permit process is to facilitate the creation of shared active transportation programs and the realization of their potential benefits, while avoiding potential negative impacts of such programs on the health, safety, and welfare of the general public."

The City of Milwaukee's Department of Public Works launched an e-scooter pilot program in 2019. This document outlines the requirements for participation in the pilot as well as the goals for the pilot.

This document contains the City of Milwaukee's "terms and conditions" for participation in their Dockless Bicycle Share Pilot Study. The City introduces goals for their pilot as well as their terms for participation which include insurance requirements, fees, data sharing, and fleet requirements.

The City of Baltimore launched a six-month dockless mobility pilot program on August 15, 2018. After evaluating trip data, community surveys, and injury reports, city planners recommended in this report that the City of Baltimore permanently integrates dockless bicycles and e-scooters into its transportation network.

The City of El Paso, Texas adopted a set of Shared Use Mobility Device Rules and Regulation on May 1, 2019. Included in the rules and regulations document are permit requirements for participating in a pilot program.

"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."

This report contains findings from all of the community engagement the City of San Antonio conducted during its six-month Dockless Vehicle Pilot Program which began on October 19, 2018.

These are the permit requirements for the Chicago E-Scooter Share Pilot Program, which ran from June 15, 2019 to October 15, 2019.

Chicago launched their first dockless bikeshare pilot on May 1, 2018. The program ended on November 1, 2018. This report outlines the City's goals for the pilot as well as survey results and trip data collected during the pilot period.

The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) report provides a preliminary analysis of an E-Scooter Pilot Program conducted in Portland, Oregon, from July 2018 through November of the same year. The report includes ridership data, public perception and concerns, areas for improvement, and proposed next steps for implementing e-scooters in Portland.

This report summarizes the user survey findings during the half-way point of a year-long microtransit pilot project in West Sacramento, California. A final evaluation of the pilot will be published by the Transportation Sustainability Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley in 2019.

In partnership with Via, Marin County Transit District (Marin Transit) launched a microtransit pilot program in May 2018. This report created by Marin Transit contains lots of insights into the design and outcome of the pilot project. In particular, the survey results and data analysis in the report is very colorful.

"Researchers at the Transportation Sustainability Research Center (TSRC) at UC Berkeley conducted an evaluation of the RideKC: Bridj pilot program operating in Kansas City, MO. RideKC: Bridj is a public‐private partnership with the goal to enhance existing public transit options in Kansas City through a flexible microtransit service offered by Bridj. TSRC UC Berkeley’s goal in this evaluation is to assess the travel behavior impacts of the service, as well as to provide operational and institutional analysis."

On June 13, 2018 Waymo's early rider program hit the one year mark. This article written by Waymo includes some interesting statistics about how the program and who participated.

"In 2017, the City of Arlington contracted with the autonomous shuttle company EasyMile to begin the first self-driving shuttle program open to the public in the United States. From August 2017 to August 2018, the Milo vehicles operated on off-street trails that connect major entertainment venues with remote parking areas. The program’s name represents mile zero - the point at which guest arrive at their destination. Milo operated at over 110 events during the program with a perfect safety record."

This paper is concerned with the relationship between road infrastructure and safety for both conventional and increasingly-autonomous vehicles as the latter become more common on road networks. Understanding the current situation and looking forward may relieve some of the anxieties described above. The paper provides a framework for considering these issues and works within the structure of the Johari Window.

BMW’s car-sharing service abruptly ceased operation Wednesday, ending a mobility program that included 1,000 free-floating vehicles used by more than 100,000 members across Seattle and Portland.

Bird and Scoot announced that Bird is acquiring Scoot, the San Francisco-based electric vehicle pioneer. The acquisition is a strategic decision from two like-minded companies.

Lime has joined rival Bird in establishing a safety advisory board tasked with helping the e-scooter industry shape local regulations—and shake its risky reputation.

Motion sickness is a serious consideration on any car trip where you’re not driving. So what are we supposed to do in self-driving vehicles? Researchers are finally looking into this question with an experiment designed to see just what makes people like us so sick.

This book explores the opportunities and challenges of the sharing economy and innovative transportation technologies with regard to urban mobility. Written by government experts, social scientists, technologists and city planners from North America, Europe and Australia, the papers in this book address the impacts of demographic, societal and economic trends and the fundamental changes arising from the increasing automation and connectivity of vehicles, smart communication technologies, multimodal transit services, and urban design.

The mundane automobile is about to disrupt your life. Thanks to rapid advance in mobile robotics, cars are poised to morph into the first mainstream autonomous robots that we will entrust with our lives. After almost a century of failed attempts to automate driving, modern hardware technology, and a new generation of artificial intelligence software called deep learning, are giving cars human0level ability to safely guide themselves through unpredictable environments. This book tells the story of this revolution.

In the second decade after Henry Ford's Model T first rolled off the assembly line, inventors were working to eliminate the weakest link in the chain – the driver. Nearly a century later, that effort is finally coming to fruition. With it could come either better and safer lives or a lifestyle change for the worse. The book explores both futures, as well as the shades of gray between them, and offers a recipe for the best outcome.

Blog post about AV deployment timelines self-predicted by 11 top auto manufacturers.

"This research explored how these new options could be synergistic with public transit models and detailed the experiences of two transit operators that entered into service delivery partnerships with a transportation network company and a micro- transit operator. Based on a series of interviews and the experiences of these two public agencies, this research provides a set of key takeaways and recommendations for transit operators exploring the potential of partnering with new mobility services such as transportation network companies (e.g., Uber or Lyft) and microtransit (e.g., Bridj or Via)."

This policy paper focuses on the primary concept of the street as space that can be repurposed – real estate that can be allocated in similar or different ways than done currently. Cities generally refer to this publicly owned and regulated space from one side of the street to the other as the right of way (ROW). Our focus is on the centrality of the ROW in dictating many other community functions and values – transportation and otherwise. And our particular bias is to focus on the opportunities that AV technology is likely to create to rethink how the ROW is allocated, so that our communities can meet their substantial and unique environmental, social, and economic challenges.

The New Mobility Playbook is a set of plays, policies, and strategies that will position Seattle to foster new mobility options while prioritizing safety, equity, affordability, and sustainability in the transportation system.

This report was developed to inform a Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) workshop, held in September 2015, exploring emerging technological trends in transportation. This paper provides an overview of select developing transportation technologies and includes a discussion of the policy implications of these new technological trends.

The Mobility Hub Reader’s Guide is meant to provide guidance and inspiration for city staff, property owners, developers, designers, transit agencies, and community members for enhancing project developments and public right-of-way improvements in proximity to existing or new transit stations with amenities, activities, and programs to support multi-modal connectivity and access.

This paper, for the first time, presents comparable projections of travel behavior impacts of the introduction of autonomous vehicles (AVs) into the private car fleet for two countries, namely the USA and Germany. The focus is on fully autonomous vehicles (AVs) which allow drivers to engage in other activities en route. Two 2035 scenarios – a trend scenario and an extreme scenario – are presented for both study countries. For these projections, we combine a vehicle technology diffusion model and an aspatial travel demand model. Factors that influence AV impact in the behavioral model are mainly new automobile user groups, e.g. travelers with mobility impairments, and altered generalized costs of travel, e.g. due to a lower value of travel time savings for car travel. The results indicate that AV penetrations rates might be higher in Germany (10% or 38% respectively) than in the USA (8% or 29% respectively) due to a higher share of luxury cars and quicker fleet turnover. On the contrary, the increase of vehicle mileage induced by AVs is not higher in Germany (+2.4% or +8.6% respectively) than in the USA (+3.4% or +8.6% respectively). This is mainly due to the lack of mode alternatives and lower fuel costs resulting in a higher share of travel times among the total generalized costs of travel in the USA. These results clearly indicate that context factors shaped by national policy will influence AV adoption and impact on travel demand changes. Based on these results the paper draws policy recommendations which will help to harness the advantages of AVs while avoiding their negative consequences.

As a strategic roadmap, this document does not commit to specific budgets or metrics but serves as a vision and communications document to capture a wide variety of viewpoints into Austin’s mobility future. This roadmap will be incorporated into the larger Austin Strategic Mobility Plan to be finalized and approved at a future date. Critical to the development of the broader Mobility Plan will be an extensive analysis of the resource requirements for implementation of this shared, electric and autonomous vehicle (e-av) Roadmap.

This white paper discusses the forces affecting U.S. passenger travel, the permanence of which is often unclear. We explore travel demand’s relationship with explanatory factors such as economic activity, gas prices, urban form, socio-demographic traits and generational effects, the expanding availability of travel options (including electronic alternatives to travel) and technological innovations in the transportation sector (including the advent of emerging transportation and shared mobility services). We discuss how these factors modify the alternatives available to travelers, the characteristics of each alternative, and the way travelers perceive and evaluate these characteristics.

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 Future of Mobility White Paper is intended to inform and guide policymakers and modelers developing the next iteration of the CTP –CTP 2050 –by presenting updated descriptions and analyses of developments impacting California’s transportation system."

This blog talks about how the autonomous vehicles will change the built environment such as street design, parking infrastructure, public space, etc. It also mentions how different modes can be integrated with the change of built environment.

One of the public policy goals for livable and sustainable communities is to minimize the use of automobiles. This paper focuses on introducing and justifying an important new policy principle. Even when car travel is minimized with smart growth land development policies, transportation demand management, and increased public transit, a significant level of automobile use will remain. As a result, reducing the environmental, economic and safety impacts of those remaining automobiles should be an essential element of a livable, sustainable community. Fortunately, fundamental and disruptive technological advances in new vehicles—automation, connectivity, and electrification as described in this paper are fast emerging to make this new priority feasible.