Abstract
For as long as there have been cities, there have been suburbs. Shared mobility—the shared use of a vehicle, bicycle, or other travel mode—is an innovative transportation strategy that enables users to have short-term access to a transportation mode on an as-needed basis. Shared mobility can enhance access and reduce social exclusion in lower-density environments and provide transportation options to carless and public transit-dependent households, particularly in areas without high-quality, fixed-route public transportation service. This chapter discusses the design and evolution of suburbs and how this impacts the transportation network. Additionally, this chapter reviews suburban applications of shared mobility services and provides a case study of shared mobility service deployments in Northern Virginia. The chapter concludes with key takeaways and a discussion of the potential future of shared mobility services in lower-density built environments.
TopDesign And Evolution Of Suburbs
The built environment can be categorized into five common typologies, shown in Figure 1. The U.S. Department of Transportation has defined these typologies as follows (Shaheen et al., 2017):
Key Terms in this Chapter
Shared Mobility: The shared use of a vehicle, bicycle, or other travel mode enabling users to have short-term access to a transportation mode on an as-needed basis. Passenger modes facilitated by shared providers can include carsharing; bikesharing; and scooter sharing (sometimes collectively referred to as shared micromobility); ridesharing (carpooling and vanpooling); transportation network companies (also known as TNCs, ridesourcing, and ridehailing); microtransit; shuttle services; public transportation; and other innovative and emerging transportation solutions. Courier services can include app-based courier network services (CNS), robotic delivery vehicles, and aerial delivery services (e.g., drones).
Edge City: Medium-density employment centers outside of the urban core. Edge cities present some features of city-center employment mixed with suburban form. They tend to have large concentrations of office and retail space, often paired with multi-family residences.
Suburban: Predominantly lower-density residential uses with some segregated mixed-uses. Sometimes described as containing fewer jobs than residences.
Mobility as a Service (MaaS): Integrates existing and innovative mobility services into one single digital platform where customers purchase mobility service packages tailored to their individual needs (ranging from per trip fares to bundled subscription mobility services).
Mobility on Demand (MOD): MOD enables consumers to access mobility, goods, and services on demand by dispatching or using shared mobility, delivery services, and public transportation strategies through an integrated and connected multimodal network. Advanced MOD services incorporate trip planning and booking, real-time information, and fare payment into a single user interface ( Shaheen, Cohen, Yelchuru, & Sarkhili, 2017 AU40: The citation "Shaheen, Cohen, Yelchuru, & Sarkhili, 2017" matches multiple references. Please add letters (e.g. "Smith 2000a"), or additional authors to the citation, to uniquely match references and citations. ).
Shared Micromobility: The shared use of a bicycle, scooter, or other low-speed mode enabling users to have short-term access to an active or low-speed motorized transportation mode on an as-needed basis.