Project: #396 Equity Effects of Rare Events on Transportation Network Company and Transit Riders Progress Report - Reporting Period Ending: Sept. 30, 2022 Principal Investigator: Destenie Nock Status: Active Start Date: July 1, 2022 End Date: June 30, 2023 Research Type: Applied Grant Type: Research Grant Program: FAST Act - Mobility National (2016 - 2022) Grant Cycle: 2022 Mobility21 UTC Progress Report (Last Updated: Sept. 27, 2022, 1:48 p.m.) % Project Completed to Date: 20 % Grant Award Expended: 5 % Match Expended & Document: 0 USDOT Requirements Accomplishments The goal of this project is to inform transportation network company (TNC) policies for improving mobility in disadvantaged neighborhoods during rare events. To date we have performed an initial analysis on the weather related impacts of heatwaves and snow fall on Uber and Lyft ridership in different neighborhoods. We have collected data on Uber usage in the Chicago area, and information on the demographics of communities within the Chicago area. This project has allowed for training of one PhD student and two female undergraduates. The PhD student has mentored an undergraduate student during this project. While the PhD student was mentoring the summer research student, the advisors (Harper and Nock) met with the graduate student each week to discuss leadership and communication skills. Currently the PhD student is advising two undergrads in data analysis and coding. This have improved the PhD students project management and leadership skills. Working closely with the Port Authority throughout this project, will provide an opportunity for our students to leanr the goals and missions of this organization, providing them with pathways to obtain internships and higher paying jobs after graduation (e.g., Director of Planning and Service Development). We have trained on postdoctoral fellow during this project. During the next reporting period we plan to develop the machine learning models to investigate multiple weather patterns and how this effects Uber and Lyft usage in low and high income areas. We will convert our code to operate on the super computer in Pittsburgh. This will help us perform the analysis on over a million ride-hailing trips. In addition to the weather analysis we will also complete our analysis of how the COVID pandemic has impacted ridership in a metropolitan area. We will submit this work to an academic journal. Impacts The equality rating and effectiveness of the transportation system will be improved by understanding how weather impacts supply and demand balances of the ride-hailing companies. We believe this will aid in adoption of new practices in transportation planning. This will enlarge the pool of trained transportation professionals. To date three female undergrads have worked on this project and gained training on transportation and weather related analysis. Other We will create new methodologies for assessing the equity and equality impacts of ride-haling services on mobility during rare events. We will also develop a methodology for evaluating health risk on public transit and ride-hailing and another method for investigating usage of ride-hailing services. Outcomes New Partners n/a Issues During the project the postdoctoral research left early due to a disability. This delayed the project. We have hired a PhD student to complete the work.