With pooled services suspended through the pandemic and research showing most users prefer private rides, will shared rides continue to play a role in urban transportation?
As ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft faced backlash for producing more urban congestion with single-passenger trips, "pooled service seemed to offer a more city-friendly product," and autonomous vehicle producers also designed multi-person pods in preparation for a future of shared-ride transit. But with shared services largely on hold since the start of the pandemic, David Zipper, writing in Bloomberg CityLab, asks whether shared transportation can recover.
Back in February 2018, the nonprofit World Resources Institute unveiled the Shared Mobility Principles for Livable Cities, a set of guidelines that "included a commitment that autonomous vehicles would offer only shared trips within urban areas," according to Zipper. Since then, "a slew of evidence suggests that those who can afford to hail a vehicle would really prefer to have it to themselves," which is "worrisome news for public officials who hoped shared rides could help curb congestion — and for mobility companies who’ve pointed to sharing as a reason their products wouldn’t condemn cities to gridlock." While "sharing trips with strangers is the basic principle behind riding public transportation," sharing rides in private vehicles feels different than larger conveyances like trains or buses. "In a bad situation, you’re more likely to feel trapped in a ride-hail vehicle," making some users more reluctant to use shared rides even outside the public health risks posed by the pandemic.
Without policies to incentivize shared travel through increased convenience or lower cost, the dream of autonomous shared transit could devolve into a growing number of "individual AV trips grinding urban streets to a halt."
FULL STORY: Can Shared Mobility Survive the Pandemic?
Oregon Passes Exemption to Urban Growth Boundary
Cities have a one-time chance to acquire new land for development in a bid to increase housing supply and affordability.
Where Urban Design Is Headed in 2024
A forecast of likely trends in urban design and architecture.
Savannah: A City of Planning Contrasts
From a human-scales, plaza-anchored grid to suburban sprawl, the oldest planned city in the United States has seen wildly different development patterns.
Washington Tribes Receive Resilience Funding
The 28 grants support projects including relocation efforts as coastal communities face the growing impacts of climate change.
Adaptive Reuse Bills Introduced in California Assembly
The legislation would expand eligibility for economic incentives and let cities loosen regulations to allow for more building conversions.
LA's Top Parks, Ranked
TimeOut just released its list of the top 26 parks in the L.A. area, which is home to some of the best green spaces around.
City of Rochester
Boston Harbor Now
City of Bellevue
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Birmingham, Alabama
City of Laramie, Wyoming
Colorado Department of Local Affairs
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.