1. Shared Mobility and
MicromobilityToday
Susan Shaheen andAdamCohen
Civil and Environmental Engineering Department
Transportation Sustainability ResearchCenter
University of California, Berkeley

2. Disrupting
Mobility
Easter Morning 1900:
5th Avenue, NewYork City
SPOTTHE AUTOMOBILE
Easter Morning 1913:
5th Avenue, NewYork City
SPOTTHE HORSE
© UC Berkeley, 2019

3. What isShared
Mobility?
Shared mobility—the shared use of a vehicle, bicycle, or other mode—
is an innovative transportation strategy that enables users to gain
short-term access to transportation modes on an as-needed basis
Shaheen & Cohen, 2018© UC Berkeley, 2019

4. Shared
Mobility
Service Models
© UC Berkeley, 2019© UC Berkeley, 2019

5. Impacts of
Shared
Mobility
Shared mobility is commonly associated with numerous
transportation, environmental, social, and financial impacts.
These can include:
– Reduction in vehicle ownership
– Increased vehicle occupancy
– Reduction inVMT/VKT
– Lower GHG emissions
– Supports active lifestyles by encouraging cycling and walking
– Cost savings
– Increased convenience
– Increased access to emerging transportation modes
© UC Berkeley, 2019

6. Importance of
Real-Time
Information
Travelers increasingly expect to have real-time,
dynamic, actionable information before and during
their tripmaking
Sheehan, 2017© UC Berkeley, 2019

7. Role of
Smartphone
Apps
Smartphone applications provide
users with location-based, real-
time public and private
transportation options
§ Dynamic carpooling applications
§ Multi-modal trip planner with
bike-ped integration
© UC Berkeley, 2019

8. Mobility on
Demand
(MOD)
– Concept based on principle that transportation is a commodity where
modes have economic values that are distinguishable in terms of cost, journey
time, wait time, number of connections, convenience, and other attributes
– Includes passenger mobility and goods delivery
– May be used by transportation system managers to manage supply and
demand
© UC Berkeley, 2019 Shaheen et al., 2017

9. Mobility as a
Service (MaaS)
– Focuses on passenger mobility aggregation and subscription
services
– Brokering travel with suppliers, repackaging, and reselling as a
bundled package is a distinguishing characteristic of MaaS
© UC Berkeley, 2019 Shaheen & Cohen, 2018

10. Disrupting
Mobility
Shaheen & Cohen, 2018
© UC Berkeley, 2019

11. Micromobility
© UC Berkeley, 2019

12. Micromobility
– Sharing and electrification reshaping
personal mobility
– Electric motors are reinventing
personal mobility and being added to
equipment such as: bicycles, scooters
(push and moped styles), skateboards,
and unicycles
– Emerging modes and a changing
marketplace make it challenging for
cities and public agencies to
understand: 1) nature of services and 2)
where they should be permitted to
operate (in motion and parked)
Shaheen & Cohen, 2018© UC Berkeley, 2019

13. Shared
Micromobility
Operational
Models
Bikesharing and scooter sharing includes
various service models including:
– Station Based: bicycle or scooter is
checked out at one station location and
can be returned to a different
designated station location
– Dockless/Stationless: Bicycles and
scooters can be picked up and parked
within a defined area at a rack or along
the sidewalk; can be locked/unlocked
with a smartphone and/or locking
mechanism attached to the equipment
– Flexible/Hybrid: Users have the option
of checking out and returning
equipment to/from a station or
anywhere within a defined area
(allowing station-based and dockless
operations)
Shaheen & Cohen , 2018© UC Berkeley, 2019

14. Micromobility
By the
Numbers
Bikesharing (as of May 2018)
– The U.S. had 261 operators with
more than 48,000 bicycles (Russell
Meddin, unpublished data)
– Dockless bikesharing accounted for
~44% of all bikesharing bikes in the
U.S. and approximately 4% of
bikesharing trips as of 2017
(NACTO, 2018)
– Between 2010 to 2017, 123 million
bikesharing trips have been
completed in the U.S.; 35 million
trips completed in 2017 (NACTO
2018)
Scooter Sharing (as of September 2018)
– Lime had 11.5 million rides on its bikes
and scooters
– Bird had over 10 million rides
– Both Lime and Bird operate in 100
cities worldwide
– Spin operates in 18 cities in the U.S.
– Skip operates in the SF Bay Area,
Portland, and Washington D.C.
– Scoot Networks available in San
Francisco and Barcelona
– An estimated 65,000 scooters are
available nationally
Shaheen & Cohen, 2018© UC Berkeley, 2019

15. Common
LocalConcerns
– Fear of bicycle/scooter graveyards
– Damage, theft, and vandalism
– Safety considerations
– Helmet use
– Sidewalk/curb space management
– Many dockless bicycles and e-
scooters feature locking mechanisms
that may not require racks, which can
cause riders to park them without
considering their surroundings
– System imbalance
– Legal operational areas
– Equity
Shaheen & Cohen, 2018© UC Berkeley, 2019

16. Local
Responses
– A number of cities have implemented permit
processes for dockless micromobility
services
– Common policy aspects include:
– Bicycle equipment standards
– Liability insurance and/or indemnifications
of liability
– Plans for initial deployment, re-balancing,
and system expansion
– Parking guidelines
– Process for enforcement, fines, and
equipment impounding
– Municipal fees
Example of Seattle’s painted dockless
bikesharing parking zone.
Diagram showing different sidewalk zones
from Seattle’s dockless bikesharing
permit.
Shaheen & Cohen, 2018© UC Berkeley, 2019

17. Emerging
Issues
– How do we understand and
leverage impacts of innovative
transportation technologies?
– How do we plan and adapt public
rights-of-way (both street and curb
space management)?
– How do we incorporate shared
mobility into planning and
modeling?
– How do we prepare for an
automated vehicle future?
© UC Berkeley, 2019

18. Acknowledgments
– Caltrans
– USDOT & FTA
– MinetaTransportation
Institute
– 11th Hour
– Smart Cities Lab and ICCT
Contact Info:
Susan Shaheen, PhD
sshaheen@berkeley.edu
Twitter: SusanShaheen1
LinkedIn: Susan Shaheen
Adam Cohen, MCRP
apcohen@berkeley.edu
Twitter: AskAdamCohen
LinkedIn: AskAdamCohen
© UC Berkeley, 2019