Shared Mobility Options for the Commute Trip: Opportunities for Employers and Employees

Abstract

This multi-institutional research project consisted of two components that were conducted, respectively, by University of Washington (UW) team members and University of Idaho (UI) team members. The UW component explored the commuting experience of essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, using the UW as a case study. The empirical work started with a quantitative analysis of data from the UW transportation needs assessment survey to depict and model the commute mode choices of essential workers before and during the pandemic. It found that most pre-pandemic public transit riders switched to other modes, especially driving alone, whereas almost all the essential workers who had driven alone, biked, or walked before the pandemic continued to do so. The shift to driving alone was most pronounced among essential workers with high incomes, whereas public transit remained a primary mode choice of lower-income groups. A qualitative analysis, which was based on a series of focus group discussions with UW employees, was then performed to gain deeper insights into essential workers’ travel constraints and corresponding decision making. It revealed that most participants switched away from transit at the beginning of the pandemic because of safety concerns related to virus infection and issues with transit frequency, schedules, and reliability. It showed that incentives such as a fully subsidized transit pass and free carpool parking would encourage a reversed mode shift from driving alone to transit or carpooling post-pandemic. Together, results of the UW study suggest the need for timely adjustments in TDM policies in response to the evolution of the pandemic, as well as to expand the mobility options for employees, especially essential workers.

The UI component, which used the University of Idaho as a case study, investigated the travel behaviors of university students from rural and suburban communities and how their experience with non-automobile modes of transportation affected their mode choice. This research component was implemented through surveys, which were aimed at identifying any relationship between previous multi-modal experience and current travel behavior, and an experiment that took participants on a 90-minute tour of the community by bus, bike, and on foot and then evaluated the impact of the tour on the participants’ travel behaviors. The results showed that students from rural communities who had frequently driven to high school and had had little experience with public and private transit were more likely to be driving currently and that participation in the experiment increased the students’ bus and bike use and walking.