Consumer Attitudes and Behavioral Implications in the New Era of Shared Mobility
Consumer Attitudes and Behavioral Implications in the New Era of Shared Mobility
Project Duration: 12 months
Project Budget (Federal UTC Funds): $69,324
Project Budget (Cost-share): $35,000
Institution: Arizona State University
Abstract
In the last few years, the concept of platform-based sharing economy has received tremendous attention (Sundararajan, 2016). This concept is mainly made possible by digital platforms that leverage advanced technologies (e.g., smartphones, GPS, integrated payment systems) to connect the demand and supply for a particular product or service in an efficient and cost effective manner. One such innovative use case is in the transportation industry where on-demand shared mobility―the real-time shared use of a vehicle, bicycle, or other transportation mode―is having transformative impacts on travelers’ attitudes, mobility choices, and behavioral responses to a wide range of daily activities. Rayle et al. (2014) conduct a survey and find that ride-share fulfills an unserved demand for convenient, point-to-point urban travel; users of ride-share tend to be younger and own fewer vehicles. The American Public Transportation Association published a report in 2016, highlighting that people who use a shared form of transportation (bike-sharing, car-sharing, or ride-sharing service) drive less, own fewer cars, and spend less on transportation overall. The number of vehicles on the road could also decrease due to shared mobility options (Alonso-Mora et al. 2017). This, along with higher vehicle occupancy levels (Hall et al., 2017), increased vehicle utilization (Cramer and Krueger, 2016), and increased public transit usage (Barbar and Burtch, 2017), can serve as important solutions to reducing traffic congestion in urban areas (Li et al., 2018).