SCC-CIVIC-PG Track A: Piloting On-Demand Multimodal Transit in Atlanta

在美国，拥有汽车仍然是社会向上流动的最佳预测指标。那些没有车的人在获得工作、医疗保健和体面的杂货方面处于严重劣势。此外，住房模式进一步限制了社会流动性，因为低收入人口往往居住在远离就业机会的地方，而且几乎没有有效的公共交通选择。叫车服务有时有助于提供额外的出行选择。但是，总的来说，它们扩大了可达性方面的不平等，满足了富裕人群的需求，减少了运输当局的收入，增加了拥堵和排放。在大流行期间，过境的重要性也得到强调。该奖项设想了公共交通的未来，通过按需多式联运系统（ODMTS）的概念，满足所有人群的移动性挑战。ODMTS结合按需服务，为低密度地区提供高载客量车辆（公共汽车和/或火车），沿着高密度走廊行驶。由此产生的门到门服务已被证明改善了便利性，降低了成本，并为传统交通系统成本过高的社区提供了一个独特的机会来扩大服务和工作可达性。为了大规模验证ODMTS的概念，这个公民参与项目在亚特兰大、科布县的士麦那市和格威内特县探索试点。通过研究互补性的高影响试点环境，即交通沙漠、没有交通系统的城市、需要更好地连接大城市的县以及对低收入人口的支持，该项目希望为在全国部署新一代交通系统创建蓝图。为了支持这些试点，该奖项研究科学和技术进步，将ODMTS的概念转化为成功的试点。特别地，它探索了四个研究线索来克服知识空白：(1)移动模式及其与建筑环境的关系的建模，捕捉未来的住房和零售概况；(2)模式采用与网络设计的联合优化；(3)按需请求与重复请求的联合优化；(4)交通监管环境的建模（ADA， EEO, Title VI）。该奖项采用社区驱动的参与式设计，由先进的模拟、可视化和指标支撑，以突出ODMTS对移动需求和预算的潜在影响。在全国各地城市部署ODMTS的蓝图包括一个软件管道，涵盖数据分析、预测模型、优化技术、移动应用程序和规划和运营交通系统的高性能计算架构。这个项目是响应轨道A -公民创新挑战-社区和流动性与美国国家科学基金会和能源部合作。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

In the United States, car ownership remains the best predictor of upwards social mobility. Those without a car are grievously disadvantaged in accessing jobs, health care, and decent groceries. Moreover, housing patterns further limit social mobility, as low-income populations often reside far away from job opportunities and have few efficient public transit options. Ride-hailing services have sometimes helped in providing additional mobility options. But, in general, they have widened inequalities in accessibility, servicing the needs of an affluent population, reducing the revenues of transit authorities, and increasing congestion and emissions. The importance of transit has also being highlighted during the pandemic. This award envisions a future for public transit that meets these mobility challenges for all population segments through the concept of On-Demand Multimodal Transit Systems (ODMTS). ODMTS combine on-demand services to serve low-density regions with high-occupancy vehicles (buses and/or trains) to travel along high-density corridors. The resulting door-to-door services have been shown to improve convenience, reduce costs, and provide a unique opportunity to expand services and job accessibility in neighborhoods where traditional transit systems have been too costly.To validate the concept of ODMTS at scale, this civic engagement project explores pilots in Atlanta, the city of Smyrna in Cobb county, and Gwinnett county. By studying complementary high-impact pilot settings, i.e., transit deserts, cities with no transit systems, counties in need of better connections to a large city, and support for low-income population, the project hopes to create a blueprint for the deployment of a new generation of transit systems across the country. To support these pilots, this award researches the scientific and technological advances to translate the concept of ODMTS into successful pilots. In particular, it explores four research threads to overcome knowledge gaps: (1) the modeling of mobility patterns and their relationship to the built environment, capturing future housing and retail profiles; (2) the joint optimization of mode adoption and network design; (3) the joint optimization of on-demand and recurrent requests; and (4) the modeling of the transit regulatory environment ((ADA, EEO, Title VI). This award adopts a community-driven participatory design, sustained by advanced simulations, visualizations, and metrics to highlight the potential impact of ODMTS on mobility needs and budgets. The blueprint for deploying ODMTS in cities around the country consists of a software pipeline that covers the data analytics, predictive models, optimization technology, mobile applications, and high-performance computing architecture that plan and operate the transit systems.This project is in response to Track A – CIVIC Innovation Challenge - Communities and Mobility a collaboration with NSF and the Department of Energy.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.