BACKGROUND
New mobility options for people and goods have been introduced and deployed globally and throughout the United States, including car-sharing, bike-sharing, ride-hailing, scooters, various other micro-mobility services, drones, urban air mobility, and many package and food delivery services. Other new options, such as connected and automated vehicles, are emerging. While different in many respects, these new mobility options are all technology-enabled. Novel business models challenge state and local revenue collection and related regulatory practices.
Federal, state, and local transportation agencies in the United States employ well-established strategies (e.g., taxes and fees) to generate funds from traditional automobiles and trucks to help pay for the construction, operations, and maintenance of the transportation system. However, it is presently unclear what revenue-related strategies may be appropriate for new mobility options.
New mobility options offer the potential for innovative revenue-related strategies. Revenue-related strategies can help shape the new mobility options for transporting people and goods and can influence benefits and costs. The strategies may include (1) generating funds from individual travelers and commercial entities and (2) distributing subsidies to service providers, communities, and individuals.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this research is to develop a toolkit for transportation agencies that addresses how revenue-related strategies (e.g., taxes, fees, and subsidies) support policy objectives and shape the deployment of new mobility options. The toolkit should assist agencies to develop, evaluate, implement, and administer revenue-related strategies for new mobility options that transport people and goods.
TASKS
Task 1. Project Panel Kick-off Meeting. The research team should present its preliminary toolkit outline at the kick-off meeting.
Task 2. Framework Development. The research team should initiate the development of an economics-based New Mobility Revenue Toolkit to assess revenue-related strategies for transportation generally and new mobility modes and services for people and goods. This task should include a literature review, policy scan, and feedback from key stakeholders.
Task 3. Personal Mobility Services. This task should focus on personal mobility modes: micromobility (bikeshare and e-scooter share), carshare, ride-hailing (driver and driverless), and microtransit (fixed route and on-demand, driver and driverless). The researchers should apply the Task 2 framework to each passenger mode and then compare it to actual practice and develop examples to illustrate particularly effective revenue strategies. The conclusions from this task should be vetted by key stakeholders.
Task 4. Goods Delivery. This task should focus on revenue recovery and pricing strategies pertaining to new mobility options for goods delivery. As new technology and emerging services like home delivery have exploded, especially because of COVID lockdowns, the landscape for pricing and revenue levers has changed as well. The researchers should (1) apply the Task 2 draft framework to the variety of new and emerging market segments addressing goods delivery to new mobility modes of delivery.
Task 5. Interim Report. The project team should prepare an Interim Report that presents substantive results from the work to date. The project team should present the Interim Report to the Project Panel either virtually or in-person, as specified by NCHRP
Task 6. Innovative revenue models and shared new mobility services. This task should document some of the most promising innovative revenue models that are currently being tested and refined in cities across the world. The research team should catalog the upstream governance, regulatory, and procurement frameworks that enable and undergird innovative revenue models, as well as the downstream applications, benefits, and innovator permissions that are afforded companies and services that pay into the fee revenue account.
Task 7. Revenue Calculator. The project team should create an interactive web-based revenue estimation tool. The revenue calculator should allow users to (1) select the mode of transportation, policy goals (such as cost recovery, reducing negative externalities), and tax or fee structure, (2) enter key information such as market penetration of the new mobility option, frequency of mobility services, an evasion rate, and tax or fee rate, and (3) estimate the revenue potential based on the key inputs. The revenue calculator should be reviewed by key stakeholders and refined by the research team.
Task 8. Draft Revenue Strategies for New Mobility Toolkit. The research team should develop the draft Toolkit to guide transportation agencies and stakeholders to evaluate revenue-related strategies for personal mobility and goods delivery to make the entire system of public investment in transportation more transparent, fair, and economically productive. The Toolkit should provide guidance to the public sector to support specific policy objectives, mitigate negative externalities, and shape the deployment of new mobility options.
Task 9. Final deliverables. The final task should include revising the Toolkit Report and Revenue Calculator based on comments from the NCHRP Project Panel, writing an executive summary for the research, and creating an Implementation of the Research Findings and Products technical memorandum.
STATUS: The research is underway. The The draft final deliverables were submitted April 2025and are in review by the project panel.
