IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cdl/itsrrp/qt0cx0d1b8.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Mobile Apps and Transportation: A Review of Smartphone Apps and A Study of User Response to Multimodal Traveler Information

Author

Listed:
  • Shaheen, Susan
  • Martin, Elliot
  • Cohen, Adam
  • Musunuri, Apoorva
  • Bhattacharyya, Abhinav

Abstract

In recent years, technological and social forces have pushed smartphone applications (apps) from the fringe to the mainstream. Understanding the role of transportation apps in urban mobility is important for policy development and transportation planners. This study evaluates the role and impact of multimodal aggregators from a variety of perspectives, including a literature review; a review of the most innovative, disruptive, and highest-rated transportation apps; interviews with experts in the industry, and a user survey of former multimodal aggregator RideScout users. Between February and April 2016, researchers conducted interviews with experts to gain a stronger understanding about challenges and benefits of data sharing between private companies and public agencies. Key findings from the expert interviews include the critical need to protect user privacy; the potential to use data sharing to address integrated corridor and congestion management as well as various pricing strategies during peak hours; along with the potential benefits for improving coordination between the public and private sectors. In March 2016, researchers surveyed 130 people who had downloaded the RideScout app to evaluate attitudes and perceptions toward mobile apps, travel behavior, and modal shift. The goal was to enhance understanding of how the multimodal apps were impacting the transportation behavior. The survey did found that respondents used multimodal apps in ways that yielded travel that was less energy intensive and more supportive of public transit. Looking to the future, smartphone applications and more specifically multimodal aggregators, may offer the potential for transportation planners and policymakers to enhance their understanding of multimodal travel behavior, share data, enhance collaboration, and identify opportunities for public-private partnerships.

Suggested Citation

  • Shaheen, Susan & Martin, Elliot & Cohen, Adam & Musunuri, Apoorva & Bhattacharyya, Abhinav, 2016. "Mobile Apps and Transportation: A Review of Smartphone Apps and A Study of User Response to Multimodal Traveler Information," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt0cx0d1b8, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    • Handle: RePEc:cdl:itsrrp:qt0cx0d1b8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/0cx0d1b8.pdf;origin=repeccitec
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kuhnimhof, Tobias & Buehler, Ralph & Wirtz, Matthias & Kalinowska, Dominika, 2012. "Travel trends among young adults in Germany: increasing multimodality and declining car use for men," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 443-450.
    2. Ralph Buehler & Andrea Hamre, 2015. "The multimodal majority? Driving, walking, cycling, and public transportation use among American adults," Transportation, Springer, vol. 42(6), pages 1081-1101, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Khan, Nazmul Arefin & Habib, Muhammad Ahsanul & Jamal, Shaila, 2020. "Effects of smartphone application usage on mobility choices," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 932-947.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Scheiner, Joachim & Chatterjee, Kiron & Heinen, Eva, 2016. "Key events and multimodality: A life course approach," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 148-165.
    2. Lixun Liu & Yujiang Wang & Robin Hickman, 2023. "How Rail Transit Makes a Difference in People’s Multimodal Travel Behaviours: An Analysis with the XGBoost Method," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-23, March.
    3. Klinger, Thomas, 2017. "Moving from monomodality to multimodality? Changes in mode choice of new residents," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 221-237.
    4. Mehdizadeh, Milad & Zavareh, Mohsen Fallah & Nordfjaern, Trond, 2019. "Mono- and multimodal green transport use on university trips during winter and summer: Hybrid choice models on the norm-activation theory," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 317-332.
    5. Timmer, Sebastian & Merfeld, Katrin & Henkel, Sven, 2023. "Exploring motivations for multimodal commuting: A hierarchical means-end chain analysis," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    6. Timmer, Sebastian & Bösehans, Gustav & Henkel, Sven, 2023. "Behavioural norms or personal gains? – An empirical analysis of commuters‘ intention to switch to multimodal mobility behaviour," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    7. Choi, Yunkyung & Guhathakurta, Subhrajit, 2024. "Unraveling the diversity in transit-oriented development," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    8. Sfeir, Georges & Abou-Zeid, Maya & Kaysi, Isam, 2020. "Multivariate count data models for adoption of new transport modes in an organization-based context," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 59-75.
    9. Groth, Sören, 2019. "Multimodal divide: Reproduction of transport poverty in smart mobility trends," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 56-71.
    10. Molin, Eric & Mokhtarian, Patricia & Kroesen, Maarten, 2016. "Multimodal travel groups and attitudes: A latent class cluster analysis of Dutch travelers," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 14-29.
    11. Imhof, Sebastian & Blättler, Kevin, 2023. "Assessing spatial characteristics to predict DRT demand in rural Switzerland," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    12. Ralph, Kelcie & Delbosc, Alexa, 2017. "I’m multimodal, aren’t you? How ego-centric anchoring biases experts’ perceptions of travel patterns," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 283-293.
    13. Heinen, Eva & Chatterjee, Kiron, 2015. "The same mode again? An exploration of mode choice variability in Great Britain using the National Travel Survey," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 266-282.
    14. Ortuño-Padilla, Armando & Fernández-Aracil, Patricia, 2013. "Impact of fuel price on the development of the urban sprawl in Spain," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 180-187.
    15. Hopkins, Debbie & Stephenson, Janet, 2014. "Generation Y mobilities through the lens of energy cultures: a preliminary exploration of mobility cultures," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 88-91.
    16. Delbosc, Alexa & Nakanishi, Hitomi, 2017. "A life course perspective on the travel of Australian millennials," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 319-336.
    17. Sanjay Gupta & Kushagra Sinha, 2022. "Assessing the Factors Impacting Transport Usage of Mobility App Users in the National Capital Territory of Delhi, India," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-20, October.
    18. Selima Sultana & Hyojin Kim & Nastaran Pourebrahim & Firoozeh Karimi, 2018. "Geographical Assessment of Low-Carbon Transportation Modes: A Case Study from a Commuter University," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-23, August.
    19. Sultana, Selima, 2015. "Factors associated with students' parking-pass purchase decisions: Evidence from an American University," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 65-75.
    20. Wang, Fenglong & Mao, Zidan & Wang, Donggen, 2020. "Residential relocation and travel satisfaction change: An empirical study in Beijing, China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 341-353.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cdl:itsrrp:qt0cx0d1b8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Lisa Schiff (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/itucbus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.