Project Summary
California transit agencies face chronic operator shortages, rising labor costs, and severe post-pandemic fiscal pressures. Is transit bus automation a viable solution? Key questions remain about whether driver roles can be automated, whether automation would generate meaningful operational and financial benefits, and whether riders would accept driverless transit vehicles. This project addresses those questions through a one-year, multidisciplinary collaboration among UC Irvine, UC Davis, and UC San Diego. The first research thrust examines bus driver roles, responsibilities, and perspectives on automation through focus groups, surveys, and workflow analysis to identify which functions may be automated and under what conditions. The second thrust develops and applies a mathematical modeling framework to estimate the financial viability, cost savings, and operational and network design impacts of bus automation in real-world transit systems, with a case study of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. The third thrust assesses travelers’ willingness to ride transit vehicles with a driver, a non-driver transit employee, or no employee on board using focus groups and a stated-preference survey. Together, these thrusts will generate policy-relevant evidence on workforce implications, rider acceptance, operational redesign, and investment priorities, helping California determine under which conditions transit bus automation could provide public value.
