TRIPODS+X:RES: Collaborative Research: The Future of the Road - A Data-Driven Redesign of the Urban Transit Ecosystem

Cornell University, Ithaca NY

Investigators

Abstract

Providing efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable transportation solutions has long been a challenge for urban planners. Traditionally, urban mobility has been satisfied via either personal vehicle ownership or mass transit systems, neither of which is an optimal outcome (the former causes congestion and pollution, while the latter suffers from a lack of "last-mile" availability). On-demand transit modes - bikesharing, ridesharing, and micro-transit - have the potential to solve many of the challenges faced by cities. They scale naturally, can alleviate last-mile problems by providing coverage in lower density areas, and reduce incentives for car ownership. However, as they grow larger and intermingle with "classical" urban transit modes, the urban planner is forced to consider both their societal consequences and their effective integration. This project focuses on the following central question: How can we design an efficient and sustainable integrated transit ecosystem, that aligns the incentives of the individual commuter, providers of both on-demand and mass transit, and society as a whole? To address the above challenges, the investigators propose a combination of *operational* and *market-design* approaches, built around a data-driven stochastic-network model for transit system operations, and the view of a transit authority acting as a meta-platform mediating between commuters and transit providers. The first research thrust on *operations* focuses on the algorithmic challenges faced by upcoming on-demand transit platforms (micro-transit, dockless bikesharing), and also by platforms in integrating their services with the broader transit infrastructure. The second thrust focuses on *market design*, i.e., the economic challenges of an integrated ecosystem. In particular, the investigators propose a number of contractual models for how urban planners can effectively integrate on-demand transit. The investigators also plan to facilitate conversation between academics and representatives of public and private transit platforms by organizing a workshop in 2019 on the Future of Urban Transit. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.