Memorandum
Date October 1, 2015
TO Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization
FROM Karl H. Quackenbush
CTPS Executive Director
RE Work Program for: Shared-Use Mobility Services: Study of Their Impacts on the Region’s Transportation System
Review and approval
That the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization, upon the recommendation of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, vote to approve the work program for Shared-Use Mobility Services: Study of Their Impacts on the Region’s Transportation System, presented in this memorandum
Technical Support/Operations Analysis: MassDOT Transit Planning Assistance
11404
Massachusetts Department of Transportation
Project Supervisor: Scott Hamwey
Principal: Annette Demchur
Manager: Michelle Scott
MassDOT §5303 Contract #88429
The MPO staff has sufficient resources to complete this work in a capable and timely manner. By undertaking this work, the MPO staff will neither delay the completion of nor reduce the quality of any work in the UPWP.
New urban mobility options that serve as alternatives to private vehicles, public fixed-route transit, and traditional taxi services have become increasingly popular in the Boston region. These transportation modes include private point-to-point services, such as Uber and Lyft; start-up transit services, such as Bridj; and car- and bicycle-sharing services, such as Zipcar and Hubway, respectively.
These services offer users short-term access to transportation on an as-needed basis, often serving any origin-destination pair, through a mobile application. They offer on-call options using various non-single-occupant-vehicle modes, providing flexibility on an individual-trip level and possibly affecting longer-term mode shares and car ownership decisions. An understanding of the role of these nontraditional shared-use mobility options in the region’s transportation system is important for short- and long-term transportation planning.
In the Boston region, in addition to supporting a mode shift away from single-occupant-vehicle (SOV) travel, these nontraditional transportation modes may:
The demographics of users of these nontraditional services, as well as their geographic and temporal usage patterns, will be analyzed to help determine whether these services are being used to complement the MBTA’s fixed-route system and to determine their role in the overall regional transportation system.
The objectives of this project are to obtain the data and perform the analysis required to answer the following questions:
Staff will conduct a literature review to understand the role of nontraditional transportation services in large urban transportation systems. The literature review will focus on answering the following questions:
Technical memorandum summarizing the major findings of Task 1
To the extent possible, staff will collect data from providers of private point-to-point services, transit start-ups, and car- and bicycle-sharing companies regarding their customers’ travel patterns. These data may include:
Staff will analyze the data to identify major travel patterns and summarize trends. If demographic data are available, staff will also summarize the demographic characteristics of typical users of nontraditional transportation modes.
Staff will also collect and analyze comparable data for MBTA fixed-route services using sources such as the automatic-fare-collection system and passenger surveys.
Staff will also produce supporting materials needed for the analysis. These may include tables, graphs, and maps.
An analysis of the data collected in this task, including supporting materials, which will be included in the final document
Staff will analyze the findings about nontraditional and MBTA fixed-route services from Task 2 to evaluate how the two types of services interact with each other and the nature of the synergies between them. Staff will compare the travel patterns of the two types of services in order to identify the origin-destination pairs and times of day for which nontraditional services complement the MBTA’s fixed-route system and for which the nontraditional services compete with the fixed-route system.
Staff will then identify the origin-destination pairs for which there is high demand for nontraditional services and for which the following conditions are present within the MBTA’s fixed-route system:
These criteria indicate that nontraditional services are complementing the MBTA’s fixed-route system.
Trips on nontraditional services that start or end at an MBTA station, particularly a station that is isolated (in other words, not in the heart of downtown Boston, where there are other trip attractions), will also be identified as potential feeders to the fixed-route transit system.
High-demand origin-destination pairs on nontraditional services at times of day where there is adequate capacity and connectivity on the MBTA’s fixed-route system will be identified as examples of such services competing with the MBTA’s fixed-route system.
Staff will use the travel-pattern comparisons to evaluate factors that may influence a person’s decision to switch to nontraditional modes.
Analysis and supporting materials, to be included in the final document
Staff will produce a final document based on the findings of Tasks 1 through 3. The final document will include the results of the literature review (Task 1); a discussion of the existing travel patterns for nontraditional and MBTA fixed-route services and the demographics of users of shared-use mobility services (Task 2); and an analysis of complementary and competing travel modes (Task 3).
Final document
It is estimated that this project will be completed 20 weeks after work commences. The proposed schedule, by task, is shown in Exhibit 1.
The total cost of this project is estimated to be $45,000. This includes the cost of 15.4 person-weeks of staff time and overhead at the rate of 98.88 percent. A detailed breakdown of estimated costs is presented in Exhibit 2.
KQ/KSP/ksp
Task |
Week | |||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | |
1.
Review the Literature |
From week 1 to 4.
| |||||||||||||||||||
2.
Collect and Analyze Travel Data |
From week 3 to 11.
| |||||||||||||||||||
3.
Compare the Travel Patterns of Nontraditional and Fixed-Route Services |
From week 11 to 15.
| |||||||||||||||||||
4.
Produce a Final Document |
From week 15 to 21.
|
Task |
Person-Weeks | Direct Salary |
Overhead (98.88%) |
Total Cost |
|||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
M-1 | P-5 | P-4 | Total | ||||
1.
Review the Literature
|
1.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | $4,367 | $4,318 | $8,686 |
2.
Collect and Analyze Travel Data
|
0.5 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 4.5 | $6,671 | $6,596 | $13,266 |
3.
Compare the Travel Patterns of Nontraditional and Fixed-Route Services
|
0.7 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 2.7 | $3,853 | $3,810 | $7,663 |
4.
Produce a Final Document
|
2.2 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 5.2 | $7,735 | $7,649 | $15,384 |
Total
|
4.4 | 1.0 | 10.0 | 15.4 | $22,627 | $22,373 | $45,000 |