Opportunities for Shared-Use Mobility Services in Rural Disadvantaged Communities in California\u2019s San Joaquin Valley : Existing Conditions and Conceptual Program Development

2017PDFTech ReportRidesharingRural transportationTransportation disadvantaged personsTravel costsMobilityUnited StatesCaliforniaNational Center for Sustainable TransportationRodler, CarolinePodolsky, LauraUniversity of California, Davis. Institute of Transportation StudiesNational Center for Sustainable TransportationUniversity Transportation Centers Program (U.S.)California. Dept. of TransportationUS Transportation CollectionShared-use mobility services largely serve major metropolitan areas. However, increasingly officials, who represent rural communities, want to know whether these types of services may be able to provide more cost-effective access to rural residents than is currently possible by fixed-route and dial-a-ride transit services. Many of these officials must contend with low farebox recovery rates that threaten transit funding and subsequent cutbacks in transit services that are often strongly opposed by constituents. In this study, the cost-effectiveness of existing inter-city transit service in rural disadvantaged communities in the San Joaquin Valley (California) is compared to hypothetical ridesharing and carsharing services. The results show significant potential to reduce transit costs and reinvest those cost saving to expand shared mobility services