Evaluating Behavioral Responses to Mobility Credits and Ridehailing Integration in a Digital Mobility System

Digital mobility platforms are increasingly adopted by public agencies to coordinate multimodal travel, streamline fare payment, and improve efficiency. However, there is limited empirical evidence on how users respond to platform-based incentives and integrated services in real-world settings, as most studies rely on stated preference data or simulations. This project analyzes user behavior on Vamos-EZHub, a public digital mobility platform that integrates trip planning, fare payment, and access to services including local transit and ridehailing. It evaluates behavioral responses to two sequential interventions on Vamos-EZHub: (1) the introduction of prepaid mobility credits and (2) the integration of a transit-triggered ridehailing credit. Using longitudinal platform telemetry, ridehailing trip records, transit fare activation data, and General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) data, the project examines how mobility and ridehailing credits affect platform engagement, transit and ridehailing use, first/last-mile connectivity, and spatial and temporal patterns of linked travel. Two-way fixed effects and event-study models are used to identify behavioral changes associated with each intervention. A geospatial-temporal algorithm classifies ridehailing trips connecting to transit, and stop- level regression models identify transit service and network characteristics associated with demand for linked trips. Expected outcomes include quantitative estimates of the influence of mobility credits and ridehailing integration on multimodal coordination, identification of service characteristics associated with higher demand for linked trips, and a reproducible analytical framework. The results will inform data-driven platform design, operational planning, and integration strategies for public agencies managing digital mobility platforms, while providing evidence to guide coordination with private ridehailing partners to improve system efficiency and reliability.

• Record URL:
  • https://ncst.ucdavis.edu/project/evaluating-behavioral-responses-mobility-credits-and-ridehailing-integration-digital

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $20,000.00
• Contract Numbers:

  DOT 69A3552348319

  DOT 69A3552344814

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  National Center for Sustainable Transportation

  University of California, Davis
  Davis, CA  United States 

  University of California, Davis

  1 Shields Ave
  Davis, California  United States  95616
• Managing Organizations:

  National Center for Sustainable Transportation

  University of California, Davis
  Davis, CA  United States 

  University of California, Davis

  1 Shields Ave
  Davis, California  United States  95616
• Project Managers:

  Cliff, Sydney

• Performing Organizations:

  National Center for Sustainable Transportation

  University of California, Davis
  Davis, CA  United States 

  University of California, Davis

  1 Shields Ave
  Davis, California  United States  95616
• Principal Investigators:

  Zhang, Yunwan

• Start Date: 20260401
• Expected Completion Date: 20270331
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Credit; Data analysis; Mobility applications; Multimodal transportation; Public transit; Ridesourcing; Travel behavior
• Geographic Terms: San Joaquin County (California)
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Operations and Traffic Management; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01989185
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: National Center for Sustainable Transportation
• Contract Numbers: DOT 69A3552348319, DOT 69A3552344814
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: May 14 2026 4:36PM