Emerging Mobility Services for the Transportation Disadvantaged

University Transportation Centers Program2022PDFTech ReportBardaka, EleniJin, XiaMcDonald, NoreenSteiner, RuthLaMondia, JeffreyNorth Carolina State UniversityFlorida International UniversityUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel HillAuburn UniversityUniversity of Florida. College of Design, Construction and PlanningSoutheastern Transportation Research, Innovation, Development and Education Center (STRIDE)United States. Department of Transportation. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and TechnologyUnited States. Department of Transportation. University Transportation Centers (UTC) ProgramUniversity of Florida. Transportation InstituteUniversity of Florida (Gainesville)Southeastern Transportation Research, Innovation, Development and Education Center (STRIDE)North CarolinaFloridaUnited StatesAgedConsumer preferencesCOVID-19Medical tripsShared mobilityTransportation disadvantaged personsTravel behaviorEquity (Finance)Project C369A3551747104Final Report, 11/1/2019 to 5/4/2022This STRIDE project focuses on the travel characteristics of and use of emerging mobility systems by transportation disadvantaged populations. In thrust 1, the research team investigated how vehicle ownership and income interact with geographical location to affect trip characteristics, in addition to how travel behavior varied over time. In thrust 2, travel behavior and mobility preferences of older adults (age 65 and older) were examined. In thrust 3, we used mobile device data to explore temporal patterns in visits to health care points of interest during 2020 and examined how these patterns were associated with block group-level sociodemographic and spatial characteristics in North Carolina. In thrust 4, we developed and applied a tool to the Gainesville Regional Transit System (RTS) to understand the changes in transit accessibility for neighborhoods with concentrations of vulnerable populations (older adults, individuals with disabilities, and low-income households) throughout the COVID-19 pandemic (during, recovery and projected in five years) for five types of trips (work, medical, education, grocery and social). In thrust 5, the research team examined how MaaS is currently being utilized in rural communities as well as opportunities for MaaS to support existing travel patterns through comparisons to urban MaaS use. This work estimated logistic regression models to understand the regional, trip, and sociodemographic factors influencing current and future MaaS activity (i.e., mode choices and trip distances) in rural areas.140