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

这项NSF市政拨款将在亚特兰大试点一项按需多式联运公共交通系统（ODMTS），以改善就业、医疗保健和体面杂货的可达性。odmts是新一代公共交通系统，它结合了按需班车服务于最初/最后几英里，以及高频铁路和/或公共汽车路线，在密集和拥挤的走廊上运送通勤者。它们有潜力改善所有人群的流动性，而且方便、经济上可持续、环境友好。该试点项目将在实地展示这些潜在的好处，特别是对过去处于严重不利地位的社区。它将首先关注城市的西区和美景公园地区，这两个社区的交通服务很差，而且是低收入人口的家园。该试点项目汇集了一个多学科团队，由美国第八大交通运输机构MARTA、交通倡导组织亚特兰大自行车联盟（Atlanta Bicycle Coalition）和佐治亚教育学院（Georgia Teach）的研究人员组成。从ODMTS概念到现场试点的转变提出了重大的智力挑战，包括：(1)运输采用的准确建模；(2)预约概念及其与实时请求的融合；(3)业务同步；(4)公交换乘和停靠的精确建模。此外，从ODMTS概念到现场试点的过渡也给社区带来了重大挑战。该服务应面向所有人群，并弥合存在于多个人群中的数字鸿沟。这需要(1)灵活的支付方式；(2)灵活的沟通方式；(3)多语言移动应用。为了评估成功与否，该项目将提供一项反事实研究，比较现有系统和拟议试点的性能，基于以下指标：(1)公交客流量，(2)等待和车内旅行时间，(3)可达性，(4)满意度。这些指标量化了ODMTS的可访问性、性能和吸引力，并为未来的交通系统提供了宝贵的信息。这笔拨款的一项重要贡献还将是为美国各地的公共交通系统绘制蓝图。特别是，该项目将提供与社区共享的移动应用程序和高性能服务器，以简化可复制性和技术转让。此外，它将收集宝贵的信息，以校准模式选择和过境采用模型。此外，通过佐治亚智慧计划，试点团队包括莫尔豪斯学院（Morehouse college）的学生，这是一所历史悠久的黑人大学；他们将参与试点的各个方面。该项目是公民创新挑战赛的一部分，该挑战赛是由国家科学基金会、能源部汽车技术办公室、国土安全部科学技术局和联邦紧急事务管理局合作开展的。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。

This NSF CIVIC grant will pilot an On-Demand Multimodal Public Transit System (ODMTS) in Atlanta to improve accessibility to jobs, health care, and decent groceries. ODMTSs are a new generation of public transit systems that combine on-demand shuttles to serve the first/last miles, with high-frequency rail and/or bus routes to transport commuters on dense and congested corridors. They have the potential to improve mobility for all population segments, and are convenient, economically sustainable, and environmental friendly. The pilot will demonstrate these potential benefits in the field and, in particular, for communities that have been significantly disadvantaged in the past. It will first focus on the West Side of the city and the Belvedere Park area, two communities that are poorly served by transit and home to a low-income population. The pilot brings together a multi-disciplinary team composed of MARTA, the eighth largest transit agency in the country, the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition, a transit advocacy group, and researchers at Georgia Teach.The transition from the ODMTS concept to a field pilot raises significant intellectual challenges, including (1) the accurate modeling of transit adoption; (2) the concept of reservations and its integration with real-time requests; (3) service synchronization; and (4) the accurate modeling of bus transfers and stops. In addition, the transition from the ODMTS concept to a field pilot raises significant community challenges. The service should be accessible to all population segments and bridge the digital divide that exists for multiple population segments. This requires (1) flexible payment options; (2) flexible communication methods; and (3) multi-language mobile applications. To evaluate success, the project will provide a counterfactual study comparing the performance of the existing system and the proposed pilot, based on the following metrics: (1) transit ridership, (2) wait and in-vehicle travel time, (3) accessibility, and (4) satisfaction. These metrics quantify accessibility, performance, and appeal of the ODMTS, and provide invaluable information for future transit systems. A key contribution of the grant will also be a blueprint for public transit systems across the US. In particular, the project will deliver mobility applications and high-performance servers that will be shared with the community to ease replicability and technology transfer. Moreover, it will collect invaluable information to calibrate mode choice and transit adoption models. Moreover, through the Georgia Smart Program, the pilot team include students from Morehouse college, a historically black university; they will participate in all aspects of the pilot.This project is part of the CIVIC Innovation Challenge which is a collaboration of NSF, Department of Energy Vehicle Technology Office, Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate and Federal Emergency Management Agency.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.