BACKGROUND
Changes in technology provide opportunities and risk to mobility, particularly as it relates to traditionally and newly underserved populations. In recent years, economic, environmental, and social forces have quickly given rise to shared and on-demand mobility—a collective of entrepreneurs and consumers leveraging technology to maximize transportation and financial resources and generate capital. For instance, shared mobility services have become part of a sociodemographic trend that has pushed shared, on-demand mobility from the fringe into the mainstream. These services have included micromobility options, such as electric scooters and bikesharing in different forms (station-based systems, dockless systems, and bikes that are traditional or electric-assist); car-based services have included carsharing with either station-based or one-way (Car2Go) service models; ridehailing services such as Lyft and Uber; and peer-to-peer carsharing services such as Getaround and Turo. Many transportation agencies and transport companies are updating existing or developing new mobility tools to improve the transportation experience and to enhance access and mobility, including mobile fare payment apps; multimodal trip planning apps; real-time information apps; and shared mobility apps. Many of the new mobility tools, however, require smartphone ownership or mobile bank accounts, so not everyone is included in this technology revolution.
There are concerns that new and emerging technologies and modal alternatives will exacerbate the disparity between the have and have nots, further isolating growing numbers of diverse populations. Rural areas and tribal reservations may lack even basic cell phone services and be excluded from accessing such services. According to the Pew Research Center’s 2017 data, 23% of U.S. adults in urban areas do not have smart phone ownership, and 28% do not have smartphone ownership or can’t afford service plans in rural areas. Moreover, many rural areas are deficient in access to broadband services. Lack of smartphone ownership is mainly concentrated on traditionally disadvantaged groups such as minority, seniors, and low income. Also according to Pew, nearly 40 million people in the United States have a disability and "[d]isabled adults are also about 20 percentage points less likely than those without disabilities to say they subscribe to home broadband, or own a traditional computer, smartphone or tablet." According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), 7% of U.S. households are unbanked and an additional 20% are underbanked as of 2015, and thus are economically excluded from mobile financial services. From a transportation perspective, these populations are considered to be underserved. If underserved people’s travel information and travel needs are missing from planning data, their travel patterns and needs will not be considered and modeled, which will result in biased projections. Without attention, these populations are likely to be routinely excluded from accessing enhanced mobility through new mobility services and associated technologies, perpetuating historical, institutional disenfranchisement.
Research is needed to help public and private entities to assess, plan, and measure their progress toward achieving transportation equity and mobility inclusion in the era of transformational technology. Focusing narrowly on specific technologies and their benefits can enlarge our blind spots with respect to the underserved and with respect to consequences for travelers and others who are not direct users of these technologies. The research is anticipated to have three focus areas:
- Inclusion of, or equivalent facilitation for, underserved communities to access and use mobility services.
- Impacts of transformational technologies on mobility accessibility, travel behavior, and travel metrics.
- Impacts of the lack of infrastructure on access and future financial implications to achieve inclusion (e.g., cell tower coverage in rural areas).
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this project is to develop a playbook with guidance on corrective actions with data, methods, and metrics to achieve inclusive mobility.
To achieve the objective, it will be necessary to examine how new and existing technology-enabled mobility services impact a community’s capacity to meet the mobility needs of all residents, with a special focus on how a community can ensure traditionally and newly underserved residents will benefit from those technology-enabled mobility services.
The playbook and associated products should inform transportation policymakers at planning organizations, and at public and private transportation entities with
- Data analysis on the impacts of new technologies on travel behavior,
- Strategic guidance,
- Design requirements to inform policy and regulatory options to effect selected strategies, and
- Recommended metrics and decision-making processes that will evaluate inclusion of the entire population of the state, regional, local, tribal, or territorial service area in accessing technology-enabled mobility services.
The guidance should be informed by an understanding of how technology has excluded or marginalized mobility options historically, and should emphasize current initiatives and strategic plans on how to include underserved populations in mobility enhancements including smartphone apps, vehicle automation, and shared on-demand mobility.
RESEARCH PLAN
DELIVERABLES
Item 1. Technical Memo on Survey and Modeling Findings Regarding Impacts of Individual Mode Choices and Impacts on Transportation System.
Item 2. Technical Memo on Findings from Literature Review and Providing Policy Recommendations, Prioritizations, and Timelines.
Item 3. Technical Memo on Policy Guidelines and Strategies covering both TCRP and NCHRP.
Item 4. Playbook (interactive draft) TCRP only – Webinar to Preview for Panel.
Item 5. Technical Memo Summarizing Findings from the Case Study, Scenario and Focus Group Analyses.
Item 6. Update Item 3 with findings from Item 5 (NCHRP Task 3).
Item 7. Playbook Update with NCHRP Information – Webinar to Preview for Panel.
Item 8. Draft Final Report, Draft Executive Summaries for TCRP B-47 and NCHRP 20-102(30), and Draft Implementation of Findings and Products Memo (3 months for panel review and contractor revisions).
Item 9. Final Report, Final Executive Summaries for TCRP B-47 and NCHRP 20-102(30), and Final Implementation of Findings and Products Memo.
STATUS: Research in progress. An interim report was submitted and an interim meeting was held in July 2020. An interim meeting with the panel was held in December 2021. Supplemental funding from NCHRP was added to fund additional scope.
