Quick-Response Research on Long-Term Strategic Issues. Task 37. Transit and Micro-Mobility (Bikeshare, Scooter-share, etc.)

Cities across the country have increasingly been investing in micro-mobility options that include station-based bike share systems, dockless bike share systems, electric-assist bike share, and electric scooters. Since 2010, these systems have grown from a handful of station-based bike share systems in only a few cities to over 120,000 bikes and micro-mobility devices in more than 100 cities nationwide. This evolution of micro-mobility devices shifted from station-based to non-station-based or “dockless” bike share systems in approximately 10 cities nationwide in late 2017. In 2018, some dockless bike share operators pivoted to shared electric scooters, joined by a few new scooter-only entrants to the market. Micro-mobility has evolved rapidly, and new types of devices continue to be introduced to the market every year. Bike share ridership grew to a record 84 million trips nationwide in 2018. The majority of this ridership (74%) took place in transit-rich cities including New York, Chicago, Washington, DC, Minneapolis, and Boston. Some newer bike share systems have indicated an interest in increasing the cooperation between transit and bike sharing. LA Metro opened its own bike share system in 2016. Ford GoBike in San Francisco accepts Clipper Card, the regional transit smart card. The ridership impact of these integrations has not been studied. While public transportation is the backbone of a multimodal lifestyle, prior research on the system in Washington, DC and abroad indicated a complementary relationship between bike share and rail transit ridership. Further, micro-mobility devices like bike share and scooters have helped provide “first and last mile” connectivity to transit, further supporting a multimodal lifestyle. This symbiotic relationship means micro-mobility has the potential to both increase the number of transit trips by expanding the reach of multimodal transportation and replace transit trips. As the micro-mobility options continue to evolve and the industry continues to expand, it has become imperative to further understand the full impacts of micro-mobility on public transportation systems, in both transit-rich markets, as well as medium and smaller urban areas. The proposed research has four key objectives: (1) identify the impact of micro-mobility on bus and rail transit ridership; (2) identify the economic impacts of micro-mobility for the community and the transit agency; (3) identify the impacts on the built environment (i.e., bike lanes, parking spaces, etc.) of the implementation of micro-mobility; and (4) identify ways to strengthen the relations between micro-mobility and transit to maximize sustainable trip modes.

• Record URL:
  http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4691

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $91000
• Contract Numbers:

  Project J-11, Task 37

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Transit Cooperative Research Program

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC    20001

  Federal Transit Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Project Managers:

  Garcia-Colberg, Mariela

• Performing Organizations:

  Shared-Use Mobility Center

  Chicago, IL  United States 
• Principal Investigators:

  Feignon, Shanon

• Start Date: 20190910
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 20211215

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bicycles; Built environment; Bus transit; Economic impacts; Public transit; Rail transit; Ridership; Shared mobility; Vehicle sharing
• Subject Areas: Operations and Traffic Management; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01693007
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: Project J-11, Task 37
• Files: TRB, RIP
• Created Date: Feb 18 2019 8:45PM