From: "Kenneth Semien, Sr." <
semien@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: July 7, 2018 at 7:01:38 PM CDT
To:
acbt@xxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ACBT] Interesting Article: Declining Ridership of Public
Transit and What Could Be Done About It
block quote end
block quote
How ride-hailing could improve public transportation instead of
undercutting it
July 5, 2018 6.35am EDT
Daniel Sperling, Austin Brown, and Mollie D'Agostino
Over the last half-decade, public transit ridership declined
nationwide. The number of vehicle miles traveled in cars is rising,
and traffic congestion
is getting worse in many U.S. cities. At the same time, the
century-old taxi industry is struggling, with many taxi companies
going bankrupt.
Are ride-hailing companies such as Lyft and Uber to blame? What has
been their impact and what should be done?
While ride-hailing threatens public transit, it is also key to its
future success – but only with smart policies and the right price
signals. As researchers
working at the intersection of energy, the environment and public
policy, we have been analyzing transportation trends for decades – and
seeing remarkably
little innovation. Now we are on the cusp of major transformations. We
see ride-hailing through the framework laid out in Daniel Sperling’s
new book, “Three
Revolutions: Steering Automated, Shared, and Electric Vehicles to a
Better Future.”
A 2018 survey of ride-hailing users in metropolitan Boston found that
nearly half would have used public transit if ride-hailing had not
been available.
MAPC, CC BY-ND
More travel, less mass transit
Let’s start with the data. Public transit ridership dropped in 31 of
35 U.S. major metropolitan areas in 2017. It has declined by 3 percent
since 2014,
and 2017 was the lowest year of overall transit ridership since 2005.
Meanwhile, total U.S. vehicle miles traveled, or VMT, has increased
steadily since 2011. Most dramatically, Lyft, Uber and other
ride-hailing companies
have soared, from near zero trips in 2012 to about 2.6 billion in
2017. As of 2016, 250 million people globally used ride-hailing apps,
including 15 percent
of the U.S. public.
Transportation network companies (TNCs) are rapidly winning market
share from traditional transportation sources. Daniel Sperling and
Austin Brown; transit
data from APTA, taxi data from US Census, projections from Schaller
Consulting, 2018., CC BY-ND
Parsing the impacts of ride-hailing
As ride-hailing has grown, so too has the number of researchers
working to understand its impacts. Experts at UC Berkeley, UC Davis,
the University of
Colorado, the University of Michigan and Texas A&M University have all
found that a significant fraction of ride-hailing customers would have
traveled
by transit, or opted against traveling at all, had ride-hailing been
unavailable. This indicates that ride-hailing is displacing transit
ridership and
increasing vehicle miles traveled by cars.
Why is this happening? People are choosing ride-hailing because
transit does not match the comfort and convenience offered by private
vehicles, and taxis
cannot offer the affordability and transparency of app-based
ride-hailing. VMT is increasing as growing numbers of for-hire cars
log “deadhead” miles driving
to pick up passengers or returning from destinations. In New York
City, unoccupied taxi and ride-hailing hours grew by 81 percent from
2013 to 2017.
How Uber moved into New York City and defeated the formidable yellow
cab industry.
But the net effects are highly region-dependent. Dense urban markets
are responding differently than suburbs. In San Francisco, fully
one-third of Lyft
and Uber riders use ride-hailing in lieu of public transit. A survey
in Denver found that 22 percent of respondents would have used transit
had ride-hailing
been unavailable. In contrast, researchers found that only 3 percent
of Lyft and Uber riders in Austin switched to transit during a
suspension of ride-hailing
services.
Positive impacts too
While ride-hailing is pulling riders away from public transit in some
places, it can also enhance transit ridership. The UC Berkeley survey
found that
4 percent of Uber and Lyft customers ended their rides at transit
stations, which suggests that they were using ride-hailing to connect
to transit. Our
colleague Caroline Rodier has observed that multiple surveys show
about 5 percent of respondents relying on ride-hailing to access
transit, although Rodier
concluded that the increased transit trips are offset by diversion of
trips away from transit.
Local governments and agencies can work with ride-hailing services to
enhance public transit instead of undermining it. For instance,
ride-hailing can
help smooth transportation demand shocks caused by temporary transit
disruptions, such as closures of subway stations for maintenance.
What’s more, while ride-hailing may increase car-based travel, this is
not necessarily a bad thing. More mobility increases access to jobs,
health care
and education. And a significant percentage of ride-hailing trips
occur late at night when congestion is not a big concern and transit
options are not
always available.
Indeed, its late-night popularity suggests that ride-hailing is
removing some of the most dangerous type of vehicle miles. According
to a UT Austin study
of all 273 U.S. cities with a population of more than 100,000,
ride-hailing services reduced fatal drunk driving crashes by 10 to 11
percent.
Ride-hailing also offers greater independence for elderly and disabled
populations. The Center for American Progress observes that
ride-hailing can help
disadvantaged populations overcome geographic isolation and access
jobs, education and health care services.
Complementing public transit
For transit agencies, ride-hailing services can be an attractive
alternative to serving sparsely populated, low density areas with
fixed routes and schedules.
Private mobility companies and public transit agencies have launched
nearly 50 pilot projects and partnerships to explore these
opportunities. Many agencies
are subsidizing travel in ride-hailing vehicles to meet the needs of
certain rider groups.
In San Clemente and Dublin, California, officials canceled fixed-route
buses with the lowest ridership and provided discounts for people to
travel in Lyft
and Uber. Phoenix is discounting the price of ride-hailing trips to
and from 500 city bus stops. Denver is offering free rides to suburban
light rail stations.
Congestion pricing systems (shown: Singapore) can encourage ride
sharing by charging drivers to travel in busy zones or at peak times.
Jason Tester Guerrilla
Future, CC BY-ND
.
Reducing solo travel
The number of innovative transit partnerships is growing rapidly, but
the jury is still out on what types of partnerships can yield win-wins
for communities,
companies and transit agencies. An overarching goal should be to
increase mobility – that is, passenger miles traveled – while reducing
vehicle miles traveled.
This will only happen if ride-hailing services continue to shift
toward multi-passenger services, such as Lyft Line and UberPool. Such
a change will require
policy frameworks that encourage shared rides and discourage
single-passenger rides – starting with ride-hailing services, and
eventually including travelers
using their own vehicles.
Road pricing practices, in which drivers pay fees to travel in
high-use areas, have reduced traffic and increased pooled rides and
transit trips in London,
Stockholm and Singapore. Importantly, Uber and Lyft embrace these
strategies to expand pooling services and gain relief from stifling
traffic congestion,
just like the rest of us.
Pooling and road pricing will be especially critical with the coming
vehicle automation revolution. If automated vehicles are individually
owned, they
will likely generate massive new vehicle use, since travel will no
longer be seen as onerous. Occupants can sleep, eat, text, read and
watch videos while
their cars do the navigating. But if those automated vehicles are
pooled, then vehicle use would be pushed in the opposite direction,
toward fewer vehicle
miles traveled.
U.S. cities and transit operators have done little innovating in the
past 50 years, and are ill-prepared for the changes ahead. They need
to decipher what
is happening, build partnerships and support price signals that
encourage pooling. Acting to maximize the societal benefits of
ride-hailing and other transportation
revolutions will provide benefits now and into the future.
Source:
https://theconversation.com/how-ride-hailing-could-improve-public-transportation-instead-of-undercutting-it-96453?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20July%205%202018%20-%20105679352&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20July%205%202018%20-%20105679352+CID_9aead59e44ccb42239d1d329443c6c8b&utm_source=campaign_monitor_us&utm_term=ride-hailing%20can%20actually%20improve%20public%20transportation
Copyright © 2010–2018
The Conversation US, Inc.
_._,_._,_
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
