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Title: A Convergence of Public-Private Benefits in Denver: Surveys and Analyses to Inform Urban Mobility-, Energy-, Infrastructure- and Behavior-Related Innovation: Preprint

Conference ·
OSTI ID:1601957

Cities, public transit agencies, and new private ride hailing services seek to understand emerging traveler dynamics, the shifting demographics of urban travelers,and new energy-efficient mobility opportunities. This includes exploring how new infrastructure investments, public and private mobility services, and smart-phone mobility apps are reshaping behaviors, demands (e.g. mobility-on-demand services), travel experiences and energy-efficient urban travel preferences. Currently, cities and metropolitan regions are providing and experimenting with many new mobility options, technologies, and personalized information services at the intersection of urban mobility, energy, and infrastructure systems (e.g., new commuter rail). To date, technology alone has not been able to crack the nut of 'creating faster trip times, less congestion, safer streets, and cleaner air for its citizens through fewer cars on the road'. This paper focuses on this gap by offering new concepts and potential for integrated approaches. Accommodating more vehicles miles traveled in cities, without increases in person miles traveled (PMT), could be costly, generating: 1) tremendous demands for new infrastructure, land, road space, materials, and energy; 2) higher traffic fatality risks; and 3) worsening air quality. Therefore, this study focuses on reducing single occupancy vehicle use by enhancing integrated mobility, helping transit and ridehailing increase occupancy in ways that also reduce energy use, and improve quality of life for urban travelers and communities. This study focuses on a survey of urban travelers in Denver, as a representative case study for metropolitan regions experiencing rapid growth, ageing populations, increased urban sprawl, traffic-related delays, and inefficient energy use per PMT.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program
DOE Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
1601957
Report Number(s):
NREL/CP-5400-70066
Resource Relation:
Conference: Presented at the ITS World Congress 2017, 29 October - 2 November 2017, Montreal, Canada
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English