Equity Analysis and New Mobility Technologies: Toward Meaningful Interventions

Abstract

Transit agencies in multiple countries have started piloting the integration of new mobility technologies (NMTs) into their transit services. This article reviews the emerging evidence from NMT-based transit pilots to identify the social equity impacts of NMT–transit integration. We focus on ride-hailing, on-demand transit, microtransit, and active travel NMTs like dockless bike share. We find evidence that three of these technologies have the potential to improve the social equity of transit systems, but we note that most agency pilots do not explicitly measure equity impacts. We offer recommendations on how future pilots should frame equity measurement to yield policy-relevant insights.