Demand for travel and equity assessment of emerging mobility services for transportation disadvantaged populations (Project A6)

Transportation disadvantaged populations, such as elderly people, people with disabilities, low-income households, and households without personal vehicles, continue to face mobility challenges due to lack of access to transportation services. Although the low-income population who resides in US suburban areas has increased by more than 50% in the last twenty years, affordable and effective transportation options remain very limited in the suburbs. At the same time, the country is experiencing a rise in elderly population, who has special transportation needs, while inequities in access to healthcare still pertain in most regions. Transportation agencies are challenged by these problems and simultaneously are facing the emergence of disruptive technologies in the transportation sector. This project tackles many of the questions that decisionmakers have raised related to transportation disadvantaged populations and emerging mobility services: (i) how do disadvantaged groups use and experience microtransit systems? (ii) what has been the impact of the recent Medicaid Transformation on disadvantaged populations? (iii) how can autonomous vehicles address the mobility and accessibility needs of the transportation disadvantaged? and (iv) how can transit and shared autonomous vehicle programs can support transportation disadvantaged populations in different geographies in the future? An interdisciplinary team of faculty from four universities in the STRIDE partnership will assess the travel demand and equity of emerging mobility services and will disseminate findings with transportation agencies to improve access for vulnerable populations.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $232750
• Contract Numbers:

  69A3551747104

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Southeastern Transportation Research, Innovation, Development and Education Center (STRIDE)

  University of Florida
  365 Weil Hall
  Gainesville, FL  United States  32611
• Project Managers:

  Tucker-Thomas, Dawn

• Performing Organizations:

  North Carolina State University, Raleigh

  Department of Civil Engineering, Campus Box 7908
  Raleigh, NC  United States  27695-7908

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  UNC-CH New East Building
  Campus Box #3140
  Chapel Hill, North Carolina  United States  27599-3140

  Florida International University

  10555 West Flagler Street
  Miami, FL  United States  33174

  Auburn University

  Department of Civil Engineering
  238 Harbert Engineering Center
  Auburn, AL  United States  36849
• Principal Investigators:

  McDonald, Noreen

  Jin, Xia

  LaMondia, Jeffrey

  Bardaka, Eleni

• Start Date: 20220201
• Expected Completion Date: 20230531
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers Program

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Autonomous vehicles; Equity; Mobility; Public transit; Transportation disadvantaged persons; Travel demand; Vehicle sharing
• Subject Areas: Passenger Transportation; Planning and Forecasting; Policy; Public Transportation; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01854174
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Southeastern Transportation Research, Innovation, Development and Education Center (STRIDE)
• Contract Numbers: 69A3551747104
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Aug 10 2022 1:16PM