Transformative Community Planning as a Tool for Advancing Mobility Justice

Status

Complete

Project Timeline

August 16, 2023 - March 31, 2025

Principal Investigator

Project Team

Daniel Lindheim, Margaretta Lin, Andre Soucy, Hillary Nguyen Pham, Elizabeth Joe, Keyanna Ortiz-Cedeno

Project Summary

Low income communities of color in formerly redlined neighborhoods face persistent racial disparities and inequities in pollution exposure, access to transportation and safe streets, and inadequate provisions for health, safety, stable housing, clean air, education, and employment. To ensure that new transportation infrastructure investments benefit these communities without exacerbating existing environmental disparities, gentrification, and displacement, this research project employs a case study approach in East Oakland and Richmond, guided by Community Based Participatory Action Research (CBPAR) principles.  The Applying Racial, Health, and Mobility Equity to Transit Oriented Development Research Project will:  1) Apply a Racial Equity Impact Assessment (REIA) to examine how “race-neutral” transit-oriented development policies have impacted low income residents’ access to health, economic stability, housing, and social cohesion and belonging; 2) Utilize mixed methods research, including public agency data and community knowledge, to analyze the intersection of transportation, air quality, land use, housing, displacement and health outcomes at regional and neighborhood levels; and 3) Provide for a greater understanding of the regional and neighborhood level impacts of ports and transportation systems and policies.  

Policy Brief: Electric Assisted Bikes (e-bikes) Show Promise in Getting People Out of Cars

Status

Complete

Project Timeline

August 1, 2018 - July 31, 2019

Principal Investigator

Campus(es)

UC Davis

Project Summary

This project reviewed and summarized existing studies on the effects e-bicycling has on car travel, characteristics of e-bike incentive programs, and opportunities for increasing e-bicycling in California. The project found evidence from a variety of research studies indicating that e-bicycling, more so than conventional bicycling, substitutes for car travel. For example, several studies document approximately 35-50% of e-bike trips would have been made by car if an e-bike had been unavailable. In addition, e-bike incentive programs are rare in the U.S. but widespread in Europe with many lessons to offer California. For example, a California e-bicycling incentive program could be implemented in many forms such as a rebate to the buyer or a subsidy to e-bike dealers. Evaluating participants’ vehicle miles traveled reductions will be challenging but can be done with before-and-after travel surveys including data from passive GPS recording and odometer readings. The incentive amount in Europe (20-33% of purchase price) may be a good starting point for California; however, incentive caps may need to be different from those in Europe given the recent rise in e-bike retail prices. Also, e-bikes have numerous co-benefits (e.g., improving access to jobs and increasing physical activity) and should be considered in any cost-benefit analysis of an e-bike incentive program.

white paper

Mobility 10x Summit: Accelerating Transportation Innovation Across California

Abstract

The Mobility 10x Summit convened more than 200 leaders from state agencies, regional governments, academia, and industry to accelerate California’s transition toward a more resilient, equitable, and sustainable transportation system. As the capstone event of the Resilient and Innovative Mobility Initiative (RIMI)—a four‐year UC ITS research effort launched in 2021—the summit synthesized extensive research and practitioner insights across ten priority transportation topics, ranging from public transit to automation and carbon-neutral transportation to equity, safety, and resilience. Across the opening and closing plenary discussions and nine breakout sessions, participants examined the structural challenges facing California’s transportation system: declining gas tax revenues, climate‐driven infrastructure damage, uneven public transit ridership recovery, inequitable access to mobility options, and rapid technological change. These challenges are converging at a moment when California must simultaneously meet ambitious climate goals, modernize its transportation funding model, and ensure that mobility systems work for all communities.

Understanding Post-Pandemic Travel Behavior Patterns and Trends in California

Status

In Progress

Project Timeline

October 1, 2024 - December 31, 2025

Principal Investigator

Project Team

Sabah Hossain Iqra, Llorenc Miquel

Campus(es)

UC Irvine

Project Summary

COVID-19 has reshaped people’s mobility patterns worldwide (Arellana et al., 2020; Hensher et al., 2021; Orro et al., 2020; Park, 2020), including in the US (Brough et al., 2021; Ehsani et al., 2021; Hu and Chen, 2021; Kim and Kwan, 2021; Liu et al., 2020). Public transit and transportation network companies (TNCs) were hit particularly hard (Du and Rakha, 2020; Khatun and Saphores, 2023). For example, San Francisco experienced a staggering 94% drop in transit ridership during the lockdown (Toussaint, 2020), and an 87% drop in Uber trips in April-May 2020 compared to early 2020 (Brown and Williams, 2023). 

Many public policies that aim to reduce solo driving, congestion, and vehicle emissions, and increase walking, biking, and shared mobility are based on pre-pandemic travel behaviors. However, higher levels of working from home, streaming, e-shopping, and micro-mobility options post-pandemic have changed travel behavior. How does post-pandemic household travel patterns differ from their pre-pandemic values? Do the policies and plans that aim to advance California’s mobility, environmental, and equity goals warrant review and possible amendment? The purpose of this project is to answer these questions and to analyze the potential impacts of changes in household travel on the California Transportation Plan 2050.

Towards More Credible VMT Forecasts for Project-Level Analysis in California

Status

In Progress

Project Timeline

June 1, 2026 - June 30, 2028

Principal Investigator

Campus(es)

UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UCLA

Project Summary

Much of California’s sustainability policy is premised on the idea of reducing Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT). Under current state law, development projects cannot be approved without first estimating how much VMT they are likely to create, and then (often) taking steps to mitigate that VMT. The obstacle California faces, for this regulatory regime to be successful, is one of accounting. It remains hard to determine if a given policy reduces VMT, and if so, by how much. More accurate predictions of VMT impacts would reduce the likelihood that resources are being wasted on ineffective policies and offer assurance to stakeholders that state policies are achieving their intended pollution and greenhouse gas goals. This project focuses on three areas of improvement: 1) A more accurate and complete measurement of VMT, particularly using phone and odometer data; 2) A more accurate causal understanding of how development or transportation projects with different characteristics affect VMT; 3) A more accurate and readily accessible way to forecast VMT impacts of projects in comparison to well-defined counterfactual scenarios. This new analysis will focus on the VMT impacts of land development projects and of transportation projects believed to mitigate or reduce VMT. Results will be translated into one or more demonstration tools showing how to better estimate project-level VMT or VMT-mitigation, drawing in part from consultations with practitioners who will constitute an advisory group for the project.

Collection of Activity Data from On-Road Heavy-Duty Diesel Vehicles

Status

Complete

Project Timeline

August 1, 2016 - July 31, 2017

Principal Investigator

Kanok Boriboonsomsin

Long Distance Travel and Destination Attractiveness

Status

Complete

Project Timeline

August 1, 2016 - July 31, 2017

Principal Investigator

Campus(es)

UC Santa Barbara

Project Summary

This report provides a summary of analyses using data from long-distance tours by each household from an 8-week California Household Travel Survey travel log. The first analysis uses Structural Equations Models (SEM) and a simpler variant called Path Analysis on three censored variables (tour miles by air, miles driving, and miles by public transportation) and two categorical variables (main trip tour purpose) and number of overnight stays. The second analysis uses Latent Class Cluster Analysis (LCCA) to identify five distinct, informative patterns of long-distance travel. This analysis shows that long-distance tours for vacation, business travel, medical, and shopping are substantially distinct in terms of their travel characteristics and correspond to different combinations of other activities in the tour and they are done by different types of households. The methods used here to identify the typology of long-distance travel can be easily expanded to include a variety of other explanatory variables of this type of behavior in more focused data collection settings.

policy brief

Investigating Unmet and Difficult Travel in Underserved Communities in California

Abstract

Residents of disadvantaged, low-income, rural, and tribal communities—collectively referred to as underserved communities—often face transportation barriers resulting from decades of car-oriented planning. This has left lower-cost modes such as public transit, walking, and cycling unsafe or unavailable, resulting in widespread travel difficulties and unmet mobility needs that are challenging to measure. To understand how people are navigating these challenges, the research team surveyed 2,892 residents from underserved communities in California. Centering the experiences of people often underrepresented in travel behavior surveys, this study provides insights into the main factors linked to difficult or unmet travel, how people adapt to these challenges, and the barriers they face. The findings provide evidence to inform the design of equitable transportation solutions that can improve mobility and access for California’s Priority Populations—groups that are State priorities for investments in improving health, air quality, and access to economic opportunities.

policy brief

Decarbonizing Heavy-Duty Transportation Modes with Electricity, Biofuels, and Hydrogen

Abstract

Heavy-duty transportation modes including trucks, buses, and seaport and airport equipment are relatively hard to decarbonize because of their demanding performance requirements and other factors. The California Scoping Plan for Achieving Carbon Neutrality calls for carbon-neutral transportation across all modes by 2045, with different sectors reaching 100% zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) sales by earlier dates, depending on the type of vehicle. Creative strategies are needed to help incentivize fleets to adopt the lowest emission truck, bus, and other equipment technologies, given their relatively higher capital and fuel costs. These policies might include offering enhanced incentives through the state Heavy-Duty Vehicle Incentive Program, truck “feebates,” adopting indirect-source rules that target high-traffic areas with the most pollutant generation and impact, and others. Recent research at the UC ITS highlights key issues and concerns and offers insights into the potential near- and longer-term solutions to address GHG and other pollutant emissions from these important sectors.

policy brief

How Did Travel Change after COVID-19? Insights from Northern California Megaregion

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic greatly changed how people live, work, and travel. These changes influenced travel habits, public transit use, and transportation funding across regions. However, these effects were not the same everywhere; some areas faced major, lasting disruptions, while others experienced smaller impacts and recovered faster. Recognizing these differences is crucial for transportation agencies and policymakers as they prepare for future uncertainties and limited resources. In a large and diverse region like the Northern California Megaregion, with about 13 million people, understanding how and why travel patterns shifted among different communities can help improve long-term planning and system resilience.