Cai, M., Shen, Q., Wang, Y., Brown, M., Ban, X., & Ashour, L. A. (2024). Examining commute mode choice of essential workers before and during the COVID-19 pandemic – A case study of the University of Washington. Case Studies on Transport Policy, 15, 101129-. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cstp.2023.101129
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Abstract
During disruptive events and major crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, essential workers, defined in this study as employees who must continue to make frequent commute trips, play a critical role in maintaining the basic function of society. It is therefore vital for transportation planners and policymakers to ensure that adequate mobility services are provided to meet the travel needs of this group of workers. To better understand essential workers' mobility barriers and inform future transportation policy, this research examines their pre-and during-pandemic commutes, as well as prospects on future commuting, using data from the Transportation Needs Assessment Survey conducted by the University of Washington in Seattle. The results show that, first, over 60% of pre-pandemic public transit riders switched to other modes, especially driving alone. In contrast, almost all the essential workers who drove alone, biked, or walked before the pandemic continued to do so during the pandemic. Second, the shift to driving alone was most pronounced among essential workers with high incomes, whereas public transit remained as a primary mode choice of lower-income groups. As travel distance increased, the probability of driving alone over public transit also went up, although the relationship was not linear. We did not find consistently significant associations between mode choice and other sociodemographic variables. Finally, our analysis indicated that most essential workers anticipated to return to their pre-pandemic commute frequency and mode choice when the pandemic is under control. Transportation planners and policymakers can facilitate mobility for essential workers through planning and policy innovations, especially during disruptive events and major crises.
Keywords
Essential workers; Transportation equity; Mode choice; Commuting; COVID-19
Sun, F., Whittington, J., Ning, S., Proksch, G., Shen, Q., & Dermisi, S. (2023). Economic resilience during COVID-19: the case of food retail businesses in Seattle, Washington. Frontiers in Built Environment, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fbuil.2023.1212244
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Abstract
The first year of COVID-19 tested the economic resilience of cities, calling into question the viability of density and the essential nature of certain types of services. This study examines built environment and socio-economic factors associated with the closure of customer-facing food businesses across urban areas of Seattle, Washington. The study covers 16 neighborhoods (44 census block groups), with two field audits of businesses included in cross-sectional studies conducted during the peak periods of the pandemic in 2020. Variables describing businesses and their built environments were selected and classified using regression tree methods, with relationships to business continuity estimated in a binomial regression model, using business type and neighborhood socio-demographic characteristics as controlled covariates. Results show that the economic impact of the pandemic was not evenly distributed across the built environment. Compared to grocery stores, the odds of a restaurant staying open during May and June were 24%, only improving 10% by the end of 2020. Density played a role in business closure, though this role differed over time. In May and June, food retail businesses were 82% less likely to remain open if located within a quarter-mile radius of the office-rich areas of the city, where pre-pandemic job density was greater than 95 per acre. In November and December, food retail businesses were 66% less likely to remain open if located in areas of residential density greater than 23.6 persons per acre. In contrast, median household income and percentage of non-Asian persons of color were positively and significantly associated with business continuity. Altogether, these findings provide more detailed and accurate profiles of food retail businesses and a more complete impression of the spatial heterogeneity of urban economic resilience during the pandemic, with implications for future urban planning and real estate development in the post-pandemic era.
Cai, M., Acolin, A., Moudon, A. V., & Shen, Q. (2023). Developing a multi-criteria prioritization tool to catalyze TOD on publicly owned land areas. Cities, 143, 104606-. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2023.104606
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Abstract
Public agencies can take a leading role in catalyzing TOD by making land available to developers (selling or leasing land, potentially below market prices). In particular, park-and-ride areas that are publicly owned can be leveraged to support TOD uses, such as affordable housing, office space, small businesses, and mixed-use buildings given their convenient access to transit systems and often large land areas. However, few previous studies have discussed the use of publicly owned park-and-rides, which are an important component of publicly owned land, as a catalyst for TOD. To fill the gap in the literature and effectively support TOD planning, this research developed a multi-criteria prioritization tool to identify the most promising locations for TOD and tested it at three park-and-ride sites owned by the Washington State Department of Transportation. The tool was developed through the Delphi process, which is an effective and inexpensive approach to evaluate relevant indicators by synthesizing the opinions of experts from various backgrounds. Five categories with a total of 14 TOD indicators, including transit supportive land-use zoning, job accessibility, land price, land-use mix, and household income, were selected as measures of TOD suitability. The importance of these indicators varied with three different TOD scenarios: (1) emphasis on affordable housing, (2) emphasis on market-rate housing, and (3) emphasis on mixed-use development. Using the calculated suitability scores, this tool can prioritize potential TOD sites for further review.
Keywords
TOD; Delphi method; Multi-criteria planning tool; Multi-sources geospatial data; Publicly owned land
Pan, H., Gao, Y., Shen, Q., Moudon, A. V., Tuo, J., & Habib, K. N. (2023). Does high-speed rail mitigate peak vacation car traffic to tourist city? Evidence from China. Transport Policy, 143, 93–105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2023.09.011
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Abstract
Tourist travel contributes greatly to transport problems in attractive tourist cities. To take full advantage of high-speed rail (HSR) for alleviating massive car traffic during the peak vacation period, this paper analyses the travel modes of domestic visitors to Shaoxing before and after the operation of HSR. Scenario-based comparison and a random-coefficients structure Mixed Logit (MXL) model with error components were adopted to analyze the travel mode change and the factors explaining tourists’ travel mode choices. Our findings show that the HSR modal share increased substantially at the expense of express buses, more than cars. Also, HSR was found to be less competitive than cars on toll-free days for medium short travel distances. The MXL model results indicate that HSR was more likely to be used over automobiles by young people, females, and one-destination travellers, for longer travel distances, and with high service frequency to Shaoxing. Besides, online booking services were highly associated with HSR use. Driving was favoured over HSR by higher income level groups, when travelling with family or friends, on toll-free national holidays. Current government policy to waive road tolls during the peak holiday period further induced car traffic to tourist cities. When individual taste was considered, tourists showed a similar preference in their valuation of the travel time variable, while were heterogenous in their preference for low per-distance cost. Our findings suggest that the adjustment of the road-toll policy, pre-booking design for targeted tourists, and measures to reduce the total travel time of HSR should be considered to promote HSR as well as impede the use of cars during peak periods. This study offers empirical evidence of achieving effective travel demand management and reducing car dependence through HSR and complementary measures.
Keywords
High-speed rail; Tourist mode choice; Tourist travel package; Travel demand management
Wang, Y., & Shen, Q. (2023). An economic analysis of incorporating new shared mobility into public transportation provision. Transport Policy, 141, 263–273. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2023.07.025
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Abstract
Transit agencies in the US have shown great interests in the possibility of incorporating on-demand shared mobility modes into their fixed-route transit services. However, the cost-effectiveness of on-demand modes has not been clearly demonstrated, and there lacks an effective method for transit agencies to compare the costs of different service provision options. This study develops an economic-theory-based framework that appropriately conceptualizes the total economic cost of incorporating on-demand modes into transit. Based on the theoretical framework, a simulation model is built to operationalize an approach for evaluating the cost-effectiveness of transit-supplementing, on-demand mobility services. We demonstrate the applicability of this approach using Via to Transit program in the Seattle region. By accounting for both the service provider's cost and the users' cost, we obtain a more complete and accurate measure for the cost advantages of the on-demand modes in this case in comparison to expanding fixed-route transit, where the total economic cost for the on-demand mode is 22% lower than the fixed route transit. The theoretical framework and the simulation model can support the decision-making of public transit agencies as they explore incorporating mobility on demand to supplement traditional transit.
Keywords
Public transit; On-demand shared mobility; Marginal cost; Generalized travel cost; Transportation simulation
The Urban Infrastructure Lab researchers have released a report on a Cascadia region high-speed rail project. College of Built Environments faculty Jan Whittington and Qing Shen were authors on the report, along with 3 Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Urban Design and Planning students (Siman Ning, Haoyu Yue, and Chin-Wei Chen), and a Master of Urban Planning candidate (Richard McMichael). This report examines the successes and lessons learned from existing high-speed rail projects in Europe and Asia, including 50 hours of interviews…
The COVID-19 pandemic changed how people connected to work. Some were able to telework, others had to be at a jobsite. While remote and hybrid work have emerged as common practice, it’s unclear what these trends mean for downtown Seattle commuting. To help businesses and transportation agencies understand the “new normal,” academic expertise from Urban Design and Planning were tapped to develop and lead a study that gains better insights. Launched by the Mobility Innovation Center, in partnership with Commute…
Handbook on Transport and Urban Transformation in China. Edited by Chia Lin Chen et al., Edward Elgar Publishing, 2020.
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Ashour, Lamis Abu; Shen, Qing. (2022). Incorporating Ride-sourcing Services into Paratransit for People with Disabilities: Opportunities and Barriers. Transport Policy, 126, 355–363.
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Abstract
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires public transit agencies to provide an equivalent transportation service for people with disabilities, known as ADA paratransit service. As the U.S. population continues to grow and age, the demand for paratransit service keeps rising, posing many challenges for transit agencies due to its high operational cost. In response, a growing number of transit agencies are looking to incorporate alternative paratransit services by forming partnerships with transportation network companies (TNCs) to provide what is known as same-day service (SDS). However, most of these partnerships are still in the pilot phase, and scant research investigates the opportunities and barriers of SDS or provides guidelines and measures for transit agencies interested in such partnerships. Considering both the characteristics of paratransit trips and riders and the operational norms of TNCs, this paper explores different conditions under which SDS trips are most appropriate and estimates potential trip diversion from conventional paratransit to SDS operated by TNCs. Trip diversion conditions include (1) trip length, which is impacted by the subsidy amount for SDS and the dynamic pricing of TNC trips, (2) level of service, which depends on the level of mobility assistance required by paratransit riders, and (3) the operational efficiency of conventional paratransit. Different settings and combinations of these conditions help transit agencies explore the potential trip diversion of SDS while considering significant barriers to the service. Using 2019 ridership data of Access paratransit, the ADA paratransit services in the Seattle region, this research finds that without an excessive subsidy amount, transit agencies can divert up to 18% of paratransit trips to SDS. This percentage can drop to as low as 11% of paratransit trips if transit agencies further limit the SDS service area to ensure the efficiency of conventional ADA paratransit. This paper concludes that although SDS provides many benefits, significant barriers inherent to TNC business models and paratransit users should be carefully examined when pursuing ADA paratransit-TNC partnerships.
Keywords
ADA Paratransit; Transportation network company (TNC); Ride-sourcing; Transportation equity; Public-private partnership
Wang, Yiyuan; Shen, Qing. (2022). A Latent Class Analysis to Understand Riders’ Adoption of On-demand Mobility Services as a Complement to Transit. Transportation.
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Abstract
On-demand app-based shared mobility services have created new opportunities for complementing traditional fixed-route transit through transit agencies’ efforts to incorporate them into their service provision. This paper presents one of the first studies that rigorously examine riders’ responses to a pilot aimed at providing such a transit-supplementing service. The study conducts latent class analysis on riders of the Via to Transit program, a mobility pilot in the Seattle region where on-demand service was offered to connect transit riders to light rail stations. The analysis identifies three distinct rider groups with heterogenous responses to the on-demand service: (1) riders who previously used private cars or ride-hailing; (2) riders who were pedestrians and bikers but switched likely because of safety concern; (3) mostly socio-economically disadvantaged riders who previously relied on the bus, but switched to the new service for the convenience and speed. These results point to rich transportation policy implications, which can inform decision-making by public transit agencies as they are exploring alternative ways to deliver the mobility services.
Keywords
Public transit; On-demand shared mobility; Latent class analysis; Heterogeneous travel behavior responses; Built environments