An analysis of DC Metro area bikeshare shows that a significantly larger share of trips start or end at stops within a quarter mile of the transit stations (compared to other stations in the system). The analysis postulates that this is due to a combination of typical local use AND trips to or from the nearby transit stop to these stations. First and last mile travel using bikeshare – and in the burbs no less.
This article looks at what cars mean to us culturally and how that would change with AV’s. It reads as a bit of a swansong – a distant echo of people lamenting their relationship to their horses was about to change as cars first took over cities.
As strange as it may seem to those of us who came of age pre-2010 – and it remains to be seen – but it is hard to imagine the eight year old of today growing up to a moment in their early twenties when dumping thousands of dollars into a car seems like a good idea – not with uber, lyft, car2go, car share, bike share, etc etc out there.
Related to the previous post, here is another positive push for transit and shared mobility working together and not in competition. This report put out by TCRP talks about how transit agencies can re-imagine themselves as mobility agencies that use a wide range of mobility options (typical transit, paratransit, rideshare, ridesourcing, carshare, bikeshare, etc). Excellent thinking and research in there.
There is also an accompanying webinar recording here that summarizes the report. This webinar talks about all of the possible, progressive futures, but also warns how detrimental a future with only AV cars (and no transit/paratransit) would be.