Project Summary
Communities in California face significant environmental hazards that threaten people’s lives and properties, including wildfires, earthquakes, tsunamis, flash floods, and other emergencies. Transportation plays a vital role during and after these events. In the response phase, transportation systems and resources enable evacuations from risk areas. In the recovery phase, resources and humanitarian aid are distributed to affected areas, assisting in more rapid recovery in communities. While light-duty vehicles support most mobility in Californians’ daily lives, several disadvantages exist for emergency situations. First, light-duty vehicles can cause congestion that delays the evacuation and the recovery processes. Second, road damage caused by hazards can dramatically decrease road capacity and connectivity. Finally, not all Californians have access to a vehicle. To overcome these challenges, well-planned strategies that enable safe and reliable transportation of people and goods across more flexible modes, such as micromobility, will be critical. In disasters, micromobility (e.g., bikes, e-bikes, scooters, and skateboards) may offer unique benefits since the mode is flexible (e.g., enabling off-road riding, avoiding congestion), low in energy needs (e.g., requiring little to no fuel), and equitable (e.g., costing little to own, operate, and maintain). Recent disasters have showcased these benefits, such as congestion avoidance using e-scooter/mopeds (evacuation of 2018 Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami) and resource distribution using bicycles and cargo bikes (recovery of the 2018 Mexico City Earthquake). This study aims to gain a better understanding of how micromobility can improve community resilience, decrease congestion, and increase transportation equity in disasters, especially for disadvantaged populations. In this study, the research team will identify the potential, challenges, and feasibility of micromobility for evacuations and disaster recovery in California. The team will synthesize available evidence from primary academic sources and other publications. This synthesis will also include literature that is only related to the topic such as micromobility and goods movement.
