Public Transit and Shared Mobility

The public transit and shared mobility research pillar includes a suite of projects focused on challenges, opportunities, and transformations related to public transit and private shared mobility in California. Public transit continues to be critically important for many Californians, and shared mobility shows much promise in improving mobility and equitable access to opportunities. Both of these mobility options have faced challenges during the pandemic, and policies and innovation are needed to revive and evolve them. The projects in the public transit and shared mobility pillar will inform a future vision for public transit and shared mobility in California (and beyond) that increases access to opportunity, supports resilience, and reimagines how these modes work together.

Phase One Objectives:

  • Providing insights into innovative finance and operations strategies.
  • Understanding what causes ridership declines and what policy levers can revive ridership, while simultaneously improving service for underserved populations. 
  • Identifying strategies to enhance public transit and shared mobility to ensure they are more adaptable to future pandemics, earthquakes, wildfires, and extreme weather events. 
  • Evaluating the role of public transit and shared mobility in achieving statewide VMT reduction goals.
  • Understanding the future of private shared mobility and what role the public sector should play in supporting and regulating it.

Phase 1 Projects:

Phase one includes 14 multi-campus research projects.







Research Team: Kenichi Soga (lead), Jonathan P. Stewart, Yousef Bozorgnia, Louise Comfort, Tianyu Han, Bingyu Zhao, Yili Tang, Henry Burton, and Esra Zengin

UC Campus(es): UC Berkeley, UCLA

Status: In Progress

Research Team: Jonathan P. Stewart, Yousef Bozorgnia, Esra Zengin, and Kenichi Soga

UC Campus(es): UC Berkeley, UCLA

Status: In Progress

Research Lead: Caroline Rodier

UC Campus(es): UC Davis

Status: In Progress

Research Team: Madeline Brozen (lead), Caroline Rodier, Evelyn Blumenberg, Brian Harold, Madeline Wander, Tamika Butler, and Alejandra Rios

UC Campus(es): UC Davis, UCLA

Status: In Progress

Research Team: David Brownstone (lead) and Henry Bernal

UC Campus(es): UC Irvine

Status: In Progress

Research Team: Elisa Borowski (lead) and Jeannine Pearce

UC Campus(es): UC Irvine

Status: In Progress

Research Team: Angela Sanguinetti (lead), Caroline Rodier, Mollie D'Agostino, and Brian Harold

UC Campus(es): UC Davis

Status: In Progress

Research Team: Caroline Rodier (lead), Brian Harold, and Yunwan Zhang

UC Campus(es): UC Davis

Status: In Progress

Research Team: Susan Shaheen (lead), Michael Hyland, Susan Pike, and Kari Edison Watkins

UC Campus(es): UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine

Status: In Progress

Research Team: Huadong Meng (lead) and Alex Kurzhanskiy

UC Campus(es): UC Berkeley

Status: In Progress

Research Team: Cecile Gaubert (lead), Pablo Fajgelbaum, Edouard Schaal, and Eduardo Morales

UC Campus(es): UC Berkeley, UCLA

Status: In Progress

Research Team: Elizabeth Deakin (lead) and Egon Terplan

UC Campus(es): UC Berkeley

Status: In Progress

Research Team: Michael Cassidy (lead), Yueyan Fan, Carlos Daganzo, Jean Doig, Wesley Darling, and Yunteng Zhang

UC Campus(es): UC Berkeley, UC Davis

Status: In Progress

Research Team: Jean-Daniel Saphores (lead), Susie Pike, and Farzana Khatun

UC Campus(es): UC Davis, UC Irvine

Status: In Progress

Research Team: Jamey Volker (lead), Susie Pike, Nicholas Marantz

UC Campus(es): UC Davis, UC Irvine

Status: In Progress

Research Team: Michael McNally (lead), Rezwana Rafiq

UC Campus(es): UC Irvine

Status: In Progress

Research Team: Kenichi Soga (lead), Louise Comfort, Bingyu Zhao, Yili (Kelly) Tang, and Tianyu Han

UC Campus(es): UC Berkeley

Status: Completed

Research Team: Evelyn Blumenberg (lead), Tierra Bills, Samuel Speroni, Jesus Barajas, Katherine Turner

UC Campus(es): UC Davis, UCLA

Status: In Progress

Research Team: Michael McNally (lead) and Rezwana Rafiq

UC Campus(es): UC Irvine

Status: In Progress

Research Team: John Gahbauer (lead), Jacob Wasserman, Juan Matute, Alejandra Rios Gutierrez, and Brian Taylor

UC Campus(es): UCLA

Status: Completed

Research Team: Jae Hong Kim (lead), Jesus Barajas, Douglas Houston, Nicholas Marantz, Veronica Herrera, Alex Okashita, and Maxwell B. Cabello

UC Campus(es): UC Davis, UC Irvine

Status: Completed

Research Team: Michael Manville (lead) and Hao Ding

UC Campus(es): UCLA

Status: Completed

Research Team: Brian D. Taylor (lead), Samuel Speroni, Fariba Siddiq, Julene Paul, and Yu Hong Hwang

UC Campus(es): UC Davis, UCLA

Status: Completed

Research Team: Susie Pike (lead), Jean-Daniel Saphores, Juan Matute

UC Campus(es): UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCLA

Status: In Progress

Research Team: Jacob Wasserman (co-lead), Susan Shaheen (co-lead), Allie Padgett, Keenan Ky-An Do, Brooke Wolfe, Adam Cohen, and and Jacquelyn Broader

UC Campus(es): UC Berkeley, UCLA

Status: Completed

Research Team: Susan Shaheen (lead), Jacob Wasserman, Elliot Martin, Adam Cohen, Michael Hyland, Brooke Schmidt, Mengying Ju, and Adam Stocker

UC Campus(es): UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCLA

Status: Completed

Research Team: Michael Hyland (lead), Susan Pike, Yan Xing, Siwei Hu, Jacob Berkel, Ritun Saha, Geoffrey Vander Veen, and Dingtong Yang

UC Campus(es): UC Davis, UC Irvine

Status: In Progress

Research Team: Susan Shaheen (lead), John Gahabuer, Adam Cohen, Jacquelyn Broader, Jeremy Epstein, Jacob L. Wasserman, Juan Matute, and Elliot Martin

UC Campus(es): UC Berkeley, UCLA

Status: In Progress

Research Team: Daniel A. Rodríguez (lead), Susan Pike, Michael McNally, and Meiqing Li

UC Campus(es): UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine

Status: Completed

Research Team: Jacob Wasserman (lead), Brian Taylor, and Fariba Siddiq

UC Campus(es): UCLA

Status: Completed

Research Team: Susan Shaheen (lead), Joan Walker, Evelyn Blumenberg, Madeline Brozen, Adam Cohen, Aqshems Nichols, Rasik Hussain, and Nicole Matteson

UC Campus(es): UC Berkeley, UCLA

Status: In Progress

Research Team: Brian D. Taylor (lead) and Samuel Speroni

UC Campus(es): UCLA

Status: Completed