Micro-Mobility as a Solution to Reduce Urban Traffic Congestion (Project B3)

Micro-mobility refers to e-scooters, dockless bikes, and other low-speed modes and is an innovative transportation strategy that has demonstrated a great potential for congestion mitigation. However, the research on micro-mobility is very limited in the field of transportation. This proposal, thus, aims to conduct a comprehensive study to analyze, quantify, and understand the impacts of micro-mobility on congestion reduction and recommend corresponding intervention strategies for stakeholders. Specifically, the research team will first leverage historical e-scooter travel demand data, socio-demographic data, land-use data, and other relevant data to explore travelers’ usage patterns, especially in the congested times and locations. Then, the team will apply interpretable machine learning to model and explain the relationships between e-scooter travel demand and other important features, including traffic conditions, time of day, availability of bike lanes, etc. These results will then feed directly into an activity-based traffic simulator to conduct various scenario analyses and sensitivity analyses to understand whether and when e-scooters can reduce congestion effectively. Lastly, all the findings and insights will be used for identifying needs, opportunities, and potential obstacles for policy and operational cooperation between stakeholders. A set of policy intervention strategies will also be proposed for the promotion of e-scooter usage.

• Record URL:
  https://stride.ce.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/153/2022/04/STRIDE-Project-B3-Final-Report-.pdf

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $134759
• 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:

  University of Florida Transportation Institute

  P.O. Box 116580
  Gainesville, FL  United States  32611

  University of Alabama, Birmingham

  Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering
  1075 13th Street South
  Birmingham, AL  United States  35294
• Principal Investigators:

  Zhao, Xilei

• Start Date: 20191101
• Expected Completion Date: 20201031
• Actual Completion Date: 20220306
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers Program

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bicycles; Data analysis; Impacts; Machine learning; Mobility; Scooters; Traffic congestion; Traffic simulation; Travel demand; Travel patterns; Urban areas
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Policy; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01729167
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Southeastern Transportation Research, Innovation, Development and Education Center (STRIDE)
• Contract Numbers: 69A3551747104
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Jan 28 2020 9:28PM