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

长期以来，提供高效、经济、可持续的交通解决方案一直是城市规划者面临的挑战。传统上，城市机动性是通过个人拥有车辆或公共交通系统来满足的，这两种系统都不是最佳结果(前者会造成拥堵和污染，而后者则缺乏可供使用的最后一英里)。按需交通方式--共享单车、拼车和微型交通--有可能解决城市面临的许多挑战。它们可以自然扩展，可以通过在低密度地区提供覆盖来缓解最后一英里的问题，并减少对拥有汽车的激励。然而，随着它们越来越大，并与“经典”的城市交通模式混杂在一起，城市规划者被迫同时考虑它们的社会后果和它们的有效整合。该项目聚焦于以下核心问题：我们如何设计一个高效和可持续的综合交通生态系统，使个人通勤者、按需和公共交通提供者以及整个社会的动机保持一致？为了解决上述挑战，研究人员提出了一种*运营*和*市场设计*相结合的方法，建立在交通系统运营的数据驱动的随机网络模型基础上，并认为交通管理机构充当通勤者和交通提供者之间的中介平台。第一个研究重点是*运营*，重点是即将到来的按需交通平台(微型交通、无码头共享单车)以及平台在将其服务与更广泛的交通基础设施集成方面所面临的算法挑战。第二个重点是“市场设计”，即综合生态系统的经济挑战。特别是，研究人员就城市规划者如何有效地整合按需交通提出了一些合同模型。调查人员还计划在2019年组织一个关于城市交通未来的研讨会，以促进学者与公共和私人交通平台代表之间的对话。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.