Annotated Summary Draft 1

Shaheen, S., Cohen, A., Zohdy, I. (2016). Shared Mobility: Current Practices and Guiding Principles (FHWA-HOP-16-022) Retrieved from https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop16022/fhwahop16022.pdf

This article focuses on shared mobility. It explains the term shared mobility which is the act of sharing a vehicle, typically a car or bicycle, based on an individual’s needs at their own convenience. Vehicles are usually parked en masse at locations with high human flow. It is then facilitated by communication technology, such as mobile applications to aid in the vehicle rental. Typically, the vehicle-sharing operator will incur the cost of maintenance, storage, parking and insurance. There are several benefits that come from vehicle sharing. For environmental benefits, there was a reduction in vehicle use, car ownership and distance travelled by vehicles. Saving of cost and reliability of shared mobility are the main reason for the shift to shared mobility. The second benefit would be accessibility. Shared mobility supplements existing transportation networks as users would be able to access places that were previously harder to reach. This aids in the accessibility of public transport. Lastly, for economic benefits, shared mobility would result in an increased economic activity near public hubs such as bus or train stations. Shared mobility is still at an early stage and has room for improvement. For shared mobility to be successful, it is vital for the local government to intervene. Factors such as safety, taxation, insurance, parking, access to rights-of-way and planning processes must be considered by the local government. The main aim of this article is to introduce the concept of shared mobility and to show the importance of government intervention in incorporating shared mobility into transportation planning.